The Malawi Prisons Inspectorate has reiterated on the need to set up guidelines that will ensure those committing less offenses are not serving custodial sentence.

Chairperson Kennan Manda said the country’s prisons are heavily congested and it is appropriate to decongest them by following legally instituted guidelines.

Manda, who was speaking in Lilongwe during an interface with the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament, said authorities need to consider of turning prisons into correctional centers unlike the present situation.

He said: “The opportunity to turn the prisons into correctional centers is still there, because it’s not only about the confinement of the prisoners.

“There is need to consider those committing less offenses not be sent prisons, this could be done by setting up guidelines that may collaboratively be implemented.”

He added that chances are very high that contagious diseases spread easily in prisons due to congestion.

“There are two contagious diseases that we are worried about that is tuberculosis (TB) and Covid, with TB we had a positive situation because all prisons in Malawi are screened for TB twice a year,” said Manda.

Whilst acknowledging the existence of the challenges, the Committee’s chairperson Peter Dimba said it is high time that government considers tabling prisons amendment bill to deal with the challenges.

“This is a familiar story, we had these reports on annual basis and the story has been the same, and we are worried because most issues being highlighted in the reports are not acted upon.

“Probably what we need at this point is for government to bring the Prisons Amendment Bill because in that Bill, because in that we have quite a number of reforms and some of issues highlighted in the reports could be well taken care of,” said Dimba.

Currently, plans are still underway for construction of a new prison at Chitedze in Lilongwe.