Latest investigations by the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) have revealed that overcrowding, inadequate food supply heavily burdening children and mothers, and overstaying on remand due to judicial inefficiencies remain some of the challenges affecting the sector.

MHRC Commissioner, Andrew Kavala says at Chichiri prison, for instance, a single prison officer is looking after 11 prisoners instead of the recommended ratio of 1:5, adding, living standards in the country's prisons do not meet the minimum standards.

“Additionally, the investigation highlights systemic challenges related to excessive pre-trial detention periods. Judicial inefficiencies have resulted in prolonged incarceration for un-convicted individuals, with some detainees spending duration equivalent to sentences for convicted individuals - despite their cases remaining unresolved,” said Kavala.

Kavala said a significant proportion of these instances involve homicide-related charges.

He says children residing with their incarcerated mothers often lack access to proper care, sufficient nutrition and structured early childhood development initiatives.

Kavala has then expressed optimism that the newly passed Prisons Bill of 2025 will address numerous challenges affecting the country's prison services and its prisoners.

“For a long time we have been lobbying for the enactment of a new law on prisons. The Special Law Commission undertook a comprehensive review of the outdated Prisons Act and finalized its recommendations in 2023. Since then, there have been protracted delays to have the new law enacted. It was quite a relief, therefore, that parliament finally passed the bill during its last sitting,” he added.

Chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, Albert Mbawala, has asked implementing authorities of the bill, once enacted into law, to follow the guidelines when developing the labour prison fund board, which will include prisoners' representation to ensure sanity.

“We hope responsible authorities will take the recommendations which we have given them," said Mbawala.

Centre for Human Rights Education and Advice Chief Executive Officer Victor Mhango hopes President Lazarus Chakwera will assent to the bill soon.

“We expected that the president would have assented to the bill when he was doing the same with the just released list of bills that have been enacted. But we have hope that it will all be enacted so that human rights of prisoners are upheld,” said Mhango.