Degrading Malawi prison conditions
– the Leonard Mondoma case

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION reports an article by Josh Ashaz published on 30th October, 2007 featured in the Blantyre based, online Malawi newspaper, the Nyasa Times: www. nyasatimes. Com/index.php?news=1498

This article highlights the fears expressed in our last release, 29th October, by the Rev’d Nicholas Henderson, Bishop – elect of the Diocese of Lake Malawi for the safety of Leonard Mondoma, the hapless cook of the late Canon Rodney Hunter who simply on the say-so of one person (suspended priest, the Rev’d Denis Kayamba) has been in Nhkota-kota prison for almost a year.

Leonard Mondoma was the faithful and loyal supporter of the late Canon Hunter now finds himself accused, without evidence, of his employer’s ‘poisoning’. Those who advocate that Hunter was poisoned, exhibiting what looks like political/ecclesiastical opportunism associated with the current struggles in the Anglican Communion and the American Episcopal Church, should be aware that should Mondoma fall ill or die they will have to be held accountable.

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Degrading Malawi prison conditions forces SALC to demand visit

‘The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) has written to the African Commission for Human and Peoples' Rights to request a visit to Malawi prisons by the Special Rapporteur for Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa owing to appalling jail conditions in the country.

Nicole Fritz, SALC Executive Director, says: "Despite the most terrible overcrowding in Malawian prison, where it is not uncommon for detainees to spend more than five years in detention without ever being brought before a court and convicted, the Malawian government is insistent that it will not carry out any further homicide trials until it receives outside funding to do so. In these circumstances fairly extraordinary measures need to be initiated in order to bring some relief to Malawi's prison population."’

(At this point a photograph is inserted showing the appalling sleeping conditions of inmates, lying shoulder to shoulder on the bare earth.)

The article continues:

‘The letter points to media reports and to severely critical official reports by the Malawi Inspectorate of Prisons (MIP), a constitutional agency composed of judicial officers, prison officials and the Ombudsman of Malawi.

SALC's letter cites reliable reports of extreme overcrowding, inadequate diet, shortage of clothing and blankets, lengthy detention without trial, sexual assaults on juveniles and deficiencies in sanitation and health care.

According to MIP, prisoners in Malawi continue to face physical assault from security forces to intimidate them and force confessions.

“Prison conditions are extremely dehumanizing, harsh, and often life-threatening due to overcrowding, inadequate nutrition, substandard sanitation, and poor health facilities,” reads the report by MIP.’

The article concludes:

‘The Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) already voiced its concern on the conditions of Malawi prisons and urged government to move with action in its reformation.

According to MHRC Commissioner John Kapito, there is a lot of torture and inhumane treatment of inmates in most prisons which, he said, is against the United Nations Charter on Human Rights.

“Instead of being reformatory centres, our prisons have become institutions of torture,” Kapito said.

“The inmates are given one meal a day, their living conditions are pathetic, and they do not have toilets where they can relieve themselves in their privacy. There are minimum conditions to be met but the conditions in our prisons are worse than that,” Kapito said at a training of Prison Warders on human rights.

The US Bureau of Democracy and Human Rights latest report also noted that many Malawian prisoners continued to die because of harsh conditions while police continued to physically abuse suspects’ detained waiting for trial.

Amnesty International also says the rate of prison deaths in Malawi remains significant and that it requires urgent remedial measures according to standards established by the International Committee of the Red Cross.’

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