Nyasa Times - Malawi prisoners starve as govt holds funding
27th January 2009
Hundreds of lives of inmates suffering from TB and those on ARVs at Maula Prison in Lilongwe hang in the balance as they can no longer have proper meals, Nyasa Times can confirm.

The development follows government's failure to release the approved monthly allocation to the prison to purchase maize and other food stuffs for the inmates.

Assistant Commissioner of Prisons, Robert Sambakunsi confirmed the development saying inmates with TB and HIV at the prison are "living at the mercy of God" as they can no longer have enough and nutritious food.

The prison's monthly allocation is about K4.5 million but currently it is getting a meagre K1.4 million thereby crippling the institution's operations.

"It's true our monthly funding is supposed to be K4.5 million but instead we get around K1.4 million. The allocation is by far not enough to effectively operate the prison," he said.

The 13-room Maula Prison, one of the biggest and oldest prisons in the country, was built to accommodate 800 prisoners but presently it has over 2,000 inmates and requires about 26 bags of maize per month to feed its  population.

But the inadequate funding has forced the prison administration to trim the number of bags to 15 per month thus reducing the traditional two meals per day to only one.

"The problem is serious and we have no choice because the funding doesn't allow us. The K1.4 million can only manage to feed sufficiently 1800 prisoners and yet we have over 2000," he said.

Each room at the prison was designed to accommodate about 60 inmates but instead keeps 140 people, a development that has also resulted in various health problems and shortage of food.

Previously, the prison depended on its agricultural farm at Dzaleka in Dowa which was closed down and turned into a refugee camp.

In another development, Sambakunsi has asked government to consider constructing a health facility at the prison in order to curb the increasing spread of various diseases.

He said due to overcrowding of prisoners, various diseases such as TB easily break out hence the need for the prison to have its own clinic.

"This would really help prisoners because the nearest health facility is too far from here and the prisoners are mostly drained by the diseases and find it tough to walk. We plead with government to consider building a dispensary at the prison," he said.

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