Weekend Nation
5 April 2025
Chikondi Chijozi
The Prisons Act in Malawi was enacted into law in 1956. When Malawi adopted the 1994 Constitution, which entrenched the Bill of Rights with clear provisions on the rights of detained persons, the Prison Act was not amended to reflect the new constitutional dispensation.
In 2003, there were calls to align the Prison Act to the Constitution and international human rights standards. This resulted in 2013, in a Special Law Commission being empanelled to conduct a comprehensive review of the Act.
The work of the Special Law Commission resulted in the formulation of the new Prison Bill of 2025, which aims to align the management of the prison system with constitutional and human rights standards by taking a human rights approach to the management of prisons and focusing on rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners into society. The key new issues that have been introduced in the Bill are the prohibition of detention of children and the provision of health care for pregnant women and prisoners with special needs.
The Bill also prohibits the detention of prisoners beyond the capacity of a prison which will have the effect of significantly reducing overcrowding in prisons. The long-awaited Parole system has also been introduced in the Bill, including the release of prisoners on licence if they exhibit good behaviour and if there is an assessment of the prisoner adhering to his or her parole or licence conditions. There is also an increase in prison oversight where the Bill introduces independent visitors and committees of visitors who will support the work of the Inspectorate of Prisons.
There are however some concerns that the Bill has not made clear provisions for correctional services, nutrition of prisoners and clear guidelines on implementation of the Parole system.
The Inspectorate of Prisons has also not been given adequate powers to enforce compliance with its recommendations.
Chikondi Chijozi is the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (Salc) criminal justice lead and Commissioner of the Malawi Human Rights Commission.
