PRISONS OR DEATH TRAPS?

With the Richie Online Resident Lawyer.  

Civilization of a society is measured by how it treats its weakest and most vulnerable members (Alexious 2015). Ramcharan a human rights scholar argues that the way a society treats its vulnerable members reflects its social health and conscience. Apart from women and children (girls and boys; emphasis added on male children) being a vulnerable group, those in prison are a vulnerable group. This is the case because in incarceration one is under the control or mercy of jailers/state and so they are a vulnerable group deserving protection. Talking of prisons and well-being of prisoners, raises furious reactions usually because the majority feels a prisoner’s welfare should not worry us when the citizenry are dying due to lack of medicine, hunger and many struggling in dire poverty. Why then should we worry of those in prisons when the innocent are suffering? These thoughts reveals the hypocrisy of a self-satisfaction oriented being who is blind to the fact that to really raise the living standards of people, a holistic approach is needed; thus no sector of society should be left behind. Again, that human rights are inalienable entitlements to human beings by virtue of birth, as such a fight for human rights include the fight for prisoners’ well-being. It is in my belief that this piece will open space, if not to raise a movement towards improving conditions in prisons, at least to create a platform for discussion on this matter of national interest.

There are many reasons why prisons are an essential part of our society wealthy our energies. Firstly and commonly of all, prisons are places where those that have done evils, that’s finding themselves in the wrong side with the Penal Code for committing crimes, are incarcerated. This not only serves as a punishment, but also prevents the confined from committing other crimes thereby keeping the society safe. For those with a chance for parole, it gives them an opportunity to change and retract from doing similar conduct once released. Of importance also is the fact that it acts as a deterrence for would be offenders. There can be a lot of reasons why prisons are vital, but one common aspect of it is that the person incarcerated remains a human being, as such entitled to human rights. But also not all the people serving sentences in prisons have really committed crimes whereas others have committed crimes whose punish was not suppose to be custodial. The challenge in Malawi that leads to others being convicted is the lack of legal representation mixed with ignorance of the law (or general illiteracy).
While others find themselves in prisons convicted wrongly, or given stiff punishment due to inability to afford legal advice, others are in jail awaiting trial. Others have been in prison for 10 years awaiting trial. A Decade. Yes, while the argument for giving a blind eye to prisons welfare mostly tends to till towards the reason that the culprits breached the law knowing the conditions of prisons, many people are languishing in cells on remand awaiting their trial. So, if you do not believe in human rights or you believe in selective enjoyment of human rights, those that are innocent awaiting for the courts to decide their fate, at least even to you do deserve humane conditions. Now the naked truth is that we can not be proposing for improved conditions for the remand section not only because the contact of the two groups remain an unavoidable reality, but also it would be an unspeakable and atrocious path to take against our common conscious and humanity.

Being a member of Community of Sant Egidio gave me an opportunity to understand many things on life in prison. Miraculously, I feel I found true freedom through being in prisons. Visiting the prison once every fortnight makes us convinced that most that argue against improving the conditions have neither been to the prisons nor witness the life a Prison in Malawi. And in our invitation to new people it has manifested as upon acceptance of our invitation, it is usually their first time and they are shocked by the poor poverty of impoverishment (For emphasis). So one wonders where do they get the courage and the wisdom to oppose the drive to reach out to our fellow mankind in prisons? On the other hand, there are those that were and have been in prison before, the likes of Bakili Muluzi, Lucius Banda, Sam Mpasu, Peter Mutharika and most politicians who have experienced life in prison. This group is usually quit and exercises a silence of conviction that nothing can be done. Is it that just because they are out then it does not matter anymore? How many others have not made it out due to the inhumane conditions (probably hundreds)? Shocking is the lack of will by most of these politicians. While it is easy and simple to condemn those in jail, thinking of it everyone can find himself/herself in prison whether on crime commission or mere suspicion.

Selective application of the law continues to be a drug that is sending our democracy to a deep slumber. Our Constitution is clear on the right to human dignity, right to health and right to life among other rights, yet the conditions in prisons continue to violate these rights. Specifically, the law in Gable Masangano v Attorney General, a Constitutional Case No. 15 of 2007, demanded the state to improve conditions of prisons not as a privilege but an obligation. Since 2007, the conditions of prisons have gone from bad to worse. This is a clear breach of the law and so the recent news of Maula prison being the mosquito of Tuberculosis is a slap on the wound. Yet such is business as usual as far as  life of those in prison is concerned. In our prisons, when there is no electricity it means they will not be given food, that is when the food supply is available. So even the one meal of M’gaiwa with peas is not given when there is no electricity, and how many times do we have black-outs. In Malawi we have Death Traps not prisons as such these institutions sometimes raise monsters in their quest for survival at all cost. If not for our respect for the rule of law and pursuit of human rights realization, may we fight for urgent improvement of prisons for the sake of our social health and common conscious as well as respect for humanity.

By…ALEXIOUS KAMANGILA…..Private Legal Practitioner and Volunteers for Community of Sant Egidio