congratulate them for the important work they are doing, with professionalism and seriousness. At the end of each visit, the Special Rapporteur made immediate observations on certain issues to the prison director or officer in charge. At the end of the visit to Malawi, the Special Rapporteur gave a summary oral and written account of its findings to the State President. The Special Rapporteur also reported directly to the Chief Commissioner of Prisons about some of the most urgent problems encountered. The findings of this mission are documented later in this report. In conclusion, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the general spirit of co-operation which marked its delegation's visit to Malawi and the follow-up to the visit. The Special Rapporteur trusts that its recommendations will be taken note of in a constructive way by all the parties concerned, and that the substantial measures taken by the State President will not be a one-off intervention but will be extended to all the prisons of Malawi on a systematic basis for the purpose of improving conditions in Malawi prisons. Context of the visit rison authorities stated openly to the delegation that prisons were overcrowded and that they were not provided with adequate resources by Parliament although the budget had increased over the last years. The annual budget for prisons is 90 Million Kwacha (USD 1.2 million - MK65 = USD1). It is improving, yet, it is considered to be inadequate considering the growth of the prison population. The regional prison authorities stated that monthly cash budget for the Southern region was about 800,000 Kwacha, about 500,000 for the Central region and 600,000 for the Northern region. This partly explained the pathetic state in which most prisons were found and the difficult conditions for both prisoners and prison staff. It should be mentioned that Malawi is the very country where the Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa has spent 11 years in prison as a political prisoner during Dr. Banda's regime. After visiting Malawi prisons this year, the Special Rapporteur can confirm that prison conditions have deteriorated since she was released in 1993. This confirms a view that the Inspectorate of Prisons expressed and documented in its report dated May 2000. r FINDINGS Preliminary remarks The prison system olice and prisons are under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs. There are 23 prisons in Malawi. There is one regional prison per region, district prisons, farm prisons and two reformatory schools (under the Ministry of Gender) respectively for juveniles beyond and under the age of 15. There are 7 prisons in the Central Region, 6 in the Southern region, 5 in the Eastern region and 5 in the Northern one. P Zomba central prison is designated a maximum security prison, the largest prison in Malawi. It receives prisoners sentenced to long and life sentences from all over the country and remand prisoners on serious cases including first offenders. It also receives prisoners sentenced to death, as is also the case in Chichiri prison. Lilongwe prisons (Maula and Kachere) also keep remand prisoners on homicide cases. Other prisons receive prisoners with short sentences (less than four years) or remand prisoners on less serious cases. District prisons send those sentenced to more than four years to regional prisons. From there, they are transferred to Zomba. However, it should be noted that this classification is not adhered to in practice. Prisoners are transferred from Kasungu to Maula central prison when their sentence is more than six years, from Mzimba and Nkhata Bay to Mzuzu when sentences are longer than 3 years. Some prisoners sentenced to more than four years were found in district prisons (8 years sentenced prisoners in Mangochi prison and 20 other persons with more than 2 years, another one with 10 years in Kachere prison) and regional prisons (a woman sentenced to 14 years at Mzuzu prison's women section). At Kachere remand prison, the delegation noticed that not only remand prisoners were kept but also a number of convicted who are there to perform tasks such as gardening and cleaning. There are prison farms which provide food for the prison ration. One of them (Mpyupyu) operates as an open prison. They contain prisoners with good behaviour in the final stages of their sentence. The prison administration is expanding its farm project to improve prisons' self-sufficiency and allow more prisoners to work in farmlands. Chilwa approved school is for juveniles under the age of 18. Mpemba Boys