SAVING LIFE BEHIND BARS
Money raised in Scotland is helping make a difference to vulnerable inmates who are enduring harsh conditions in a jail in Malawi
THE haunted eyes of Mulanje prison’s Cell 5 inmates stare up from the stone floor where they languish.
Up to 100 men with HIV, tuberculosis and other lifethreatening conditions are housed in the crumbling infectious diseases segregation wing of the Malawian jail.
Convicted of crimes of varying severity – from murder to bike theft – they have no beds and sleep on bamboo mats barely the area of their own slight bodies.
The Daily Record was granted exclusive access to the facility to interview prisoners and view at first-hand life behind bars in one of the world’s poorest countries.
Set amid rolling tea plantations at the foot of the jaw-droppingly majestic Mount Mulanje, the sevencell prison built around a dirt-floored courtyard was designed for 200 inmates but now holds about 450.
It is overcrowded and food is in short supply – there were reports of inmates going days without eating during a period of severe drought.
Yet, the horrifying conditions have improved dramatically in the last two years thanks to the work of the nearby Mulanje Mission Hospital – funded in part by Scots healthcare charity EMMS International.
In a tiny medical room at the prison, nurse George Kaliat administers life-saving antiretroviral drugs to 98 HIV-positive prisoners.
Ill and malnourished prisoners are given basic treatment and the hospital feeds the entire jail a healthy meal once a week.
Neitha Netascaloapati, 39, has been incarcerated at Mulanje prison for six years and isn’t due for release until August 8, 2019. His initial crime was stealing a bike and about 69,000 Kwacha in cash – the equivalent of £74.
When I seem surprised at the length of the sentence, a prison guard told me there was a further conviction – for trying to escape.
As an HIV-positive man who also suffers from anaemia and tuberculosis, his life depends on the continuing support of MMH.
Speaking through a translator, he said: “Things have been much better since the nurse started coming to the hospital. They bring medicine and food. Without them, many of the prisoners would have a very difficult life. It is much better than the last prison I was in where we had no health care at all.”
Neitha’s TB treatment started in May and he also has access to antiretroviral drugs for HIV.
Another prisoner, Strout Magombo, 32, also receives support each week from the MMH.
The 32-year-old dad of eight was jailed for two years for what he described as “a fight” and is due for release in December this year.
He said: “I’m looking forward to getting home to be with my family, but I’ve been treated well here.
“The prison guards are good to us and we are allowed to see a nurse if we are ill, but we need many things.”
It is not the responsibility of the state to ensure adequate nutrition to
prisoners in Malawi and many are fed by family members who turn up at the gates to deliver basic food parcels of rice and porridge.
It means MMH’s weekly food runs are critical. Malnutrition lowers the immune system and can quickly lead to other infections such as TB and pneumonia.
A peanut-based paste for severely underfed inmates and likuni phala – a local maize and soya porridge for those suffering moderate malnutrition – are some of the main foodstuffs being delivered.
Kaliat, 31, MMH’s prison nurse, said: “Conditions are challenging. There’s not enough room for the prisoners and there is often not enough food for them to eat.
“A high percentage are HIV-positive and there are other
infections such as diarrhoea, measles and chicken pox.
“When we first started working at the hospital in 2014, about 30 per cent of the prisoners were suffering from severe malnutrition, but we have now reduced that significantly.
“We come in once a week and feed every prisoner a meal using simple ingredients such as maize flour, soya pieces and Likuni Phala. We also run clinics where we can get medicines to the people who need them.
“We are seeing less deaths and the reinfection rate for TB has been eradicated this year.”
Despite a lack of resources, staff make life as bearable as possible.
There are no computers, or even pens and paper, in the ramshackle office where we carried out tense negotiations over entry with senior prison officer Charles Steven Nyanga – an imposing figure in military-style fatigues and boots. His only admin aid is a chalkboard with grim totals under columns including Men, Women, Children, Murderers.
He clearly had reservations over our visit but like most Malawians we meet, it didn’t take long for a natural friendly warmth to replace his initial officious suspicion.
In the grounds outside, he proudly showed us the prison vegetable garden, a family of floppy-eared pigs being bred for food and the football field where inmates play workers each week. He said: “Prisoners are treated well but always need basic things like food, clothing and medicine.” Edinburgh-based EMMS International are running their Every Life Matters campaign and the UK Government have agreed to match public donations pound for pound. Cash will be used to train healthcare workers, improve access to healthcare and support families to grow their own food. They aim to help 10,000 patients and 50,000 family members over the next three years.