Severe overcrowding throughout the prison system provides a conducive environment for the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis.
[1] The Prison Department employed fewer than 200 personnel distributed into several posts such as, superintendents and guards.
[1] The Zomba Central Prison held people with much longer sentences and was under the control of the King's African Rifles.
[1] When Malawi gained independence in 1964 problems such as racial discrimination, torture, arbitrary arrests and forced labor were still rampant in the criminal justice system.
[6] Several organizations have challenged the government through the courts to consider having a well-balanced diet for the prisoners who are HIV positive.
Malawi's 12,000,000 to 13,000,000 citizens have 28 legal aid attorneys and eight prosecutors with law degrees.
[4] Malawi's High Court, which has to pass judgment on all capitals crimes, has not heard a single homicide case in the last year, simply because there is no money to assemble lawyers, judges and witnesses for hearings in the localities where the crimes occurred.
The previous president Dr Baliki Muluzi in 1995 released 650 prisoners on Malawi's 31st Independence Day celebrations.
[8] The former president Dr Bingu Wa Mutharika, ordered the release of 398 prisoners in 2007.
The facility also provides services and activities for prisoners, such as teaching them skills so they go back into society as law-abiding citizens.