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Journal of Prison Education and Reentry
Vol. 7 No. 3, 2023
RESEARCH PAPER
The Right to Education: Is it a Reality or a Pipe Dream for Incarcerated
Young Prisoners in Malawi?
SAMSON CHAIMA KAJAWO
University of South Africa
LINEO ROSE JOHNSON
University of South Africa
Abstract: Young people are often incarcerated in penitentiaries worldwide. Incarceration is
not expected to hinder their access to quality education. This article, guided by Marxist theory,
examines the practicality of educational rights at ve young prisoners’ facilities in Malawi.
The study used a descriptive phenomenological qualitative research design to engage the voic-
es of 52 incarcerated and released young people in semi-structured interviews to ascertain if
prisoners’ quality education was a reality or mere pipedream at young prisoners’ facilities. The
ndings show a disparity between correctional education policies and the actual reality. Due to
the inadequacy of resources and the negativity of the prison environment, the facilities failed to
provide quality, appealing and motivating education to the already educationally disenchanted
incarcerated young people, resulting in low enrolment rates. It was, therefore, concluded that
education was still a pipe dream at young prisoners’ centres in Malawi.
Keywords: Correctional education, Malawi, prisoners’ rights, pipe dream, young prisoners.
Introduction
At least one million young people are incarcerated in penitentiaries worldwide (van
Hout & Mhlanga-Gunda, 2019). Incarceration is not supposed to hinder their right and access
to education. International human rights laws state that incarceration should not forfeit prison-
ers’ rights to education since incarcerated people also have the right to education (Coyle, 2002;
United Nations, 2015). This article is based on qualitative research data from a study conduct-
ed between August 2021 and October 2022 at ve Young Prisoners’ Rehabilitation Centres
(YPRCs) in Malawi. It examines the practicality of the right and access to education for their
school-aged inhabitants to ascertain if it is a reality or a mere pipe dream (policy rhetoric). The
study involved 27 school-aged prisoners and 25 previously incarcerated young people to voice
out their lived experiences at ve YPRCs in Malawi. After a brief explanation of education
in prisons in Malawi, the theoretical framework discusses recent literature around equality of
access to education and draws on Marxist theory to question the political will to provide qual-
ity education for young prisoners. The methodology section explains the phenomenological
research design and includes details of the intense ethical considerations required for this study.
The ndings detail the two key themes and six sub-themes through the use of the participants’
voices to highlight the disparity between correctional education policies and reality.
Correspondence: Lineo Rose Johnson Email: johnslr@unisa.ac.za
(Accepted: 25 March 2023) ISSN: 2387-2306 doi: https://doi.org/10.25771/dzyv-7c36
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 268
Education in penitentiary facilities
Countries in the United Nations (UN) recognised the role that education play as a main
driver of development through their rearmation of the provision of quality education for all
through the UN Sustainable Development Goal number four (UNESCO, 2015; UN, 2015a).
The goal targets and advocates for the successful completion of quality basic education and
accessibility of lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030 (UN, 2015a). In this respect, the
global citizenry rearmed in 2015 that education is a “public good” and “fundamental human
right that enables the realization of other human rights”, thus needs to be accessed by all young
people regardless of their socio-economic circumstances (UNESCO, 2015, p. 75). These young
people include those incarcerated in correctional facilities. Global statistics provide that at least
one million young people are incarcerated worldwide (van Hout & Mhlanga-Gunda, 2019).
Thus, incarceration should not forfeit prisoners’ rights to education (Jäggi & Kliewer, 2020).
Globally, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights article 26(1) states that incarcer-
ated people also have the right to education (Coyle 2002). The UN standard minimum rules
for the treatment of prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) put an emphasis by obligating the
prison administrations to provide educational opportunities to young prisoners. According to
Rule 104, “the education…of young prisoners shall be compulsory and special attention shall
be paid to it by the prison administration” (UN, 2015b, p. 30). This is because young prisoners
are among the thousands of prisoners worldwide that are expected to be released from prisons
each year (Bachman & Schutt, 2018; Davis et al. 2014; Formby & Paynter, 2020); hence they
should not nd it dicult to resume schooling or reintegrate in society after their release.
In the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the issue of access to education for young peo-
ple in the continent is even prioritised (African Union Commission [AUC], 2015, p.14). It is
projected that Africa will have the world‘s largest young people population of more than 70%
by 2063 which will be crucial for the continent’s development (AUC, 2015). Thus, according
to the Africa Agenda 2063, young people need to be well-educated and highly skilled (AUC,
2015). Leaving out the young people incarcerated in correctional facilities in this human cap-
ital development endeavour might negatively impact the fullment of these aspirations and
goals.
In Malawi, statistics show that the country has a youthful population, with 51% being
less than 18 years as of 2018 (National Planning Commission [NPC], 2020). Most of these
young people usually go through age-related problems and hindrances, including a lack of rel-
evant education and skill sets, aecting their participation in the country’s socio-economic and
political development (NPC, 2020). Coincidentally, these are factors found to contribute to ju-
venile delinquency and incarceration in many African countries, signifying the need for educa-
tion (Johnson, 2015; Quan-Baour & Zawada, 2012). In responding to this issue, Section 25(1)
of the Malawi Constitution stipulates that “all persons are entitled to education” (Government
of Malawi [GoM], 2018a, p. 16). Moreover, the long-term national strategy, the ‘Malawi 2063’
aspires to “make it compulsory for every citizen to attain at least 12 years of formal education”
especially young people “so that learning outcomes are equitable” (NPC, 2020, p. 37). These
young people include those incarcerated in penitentiary facilities.
Specically, Section 163 of the Malawi Constitution mandates the prison authorities to
provide rehabilitation programmes, including education, to incarcerated people (GoM, 2018a).
The practice is echoed in the Malawi Prisons Service (MPS) strategic plan, which envisioned
the department moving from prison to a correctional service (MPS, 2016). In this strategic plan,
47% of funds estimated for the whole department were allocated to the strategic education ob-
jective (Kajawo, 2019; MPS, 2016). The funds were for nancing numerous activities such as
to “enrol all children in conict with the law into prison primary and secondary education” as
well as extending education access to all correctional facilities, especially YPRCs, which in-
cluded making education accessible to female prisoners (MPS, 2016, p. 25-33). The funds were
specically for constructing more classroom blocks, a library and science laboratory at each
correctional facility, and the recruitment of qualied teachers by 2020. However, empirical
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 269
studies on correctional education indicate that the laws and policies granting educational rights
to prisoners do not always translate into reality in penitentiary facilities (Hawley et al., 2013).
Studies in public policies in Africa have revealed that many countries’ policies usually end up
on shelves as strategic documents without seeing the light of day (Kayuni, 2017; Ng, 2008).
Nonetheless, the limited research on prisoners’ education in Malawi shows the avail-
ability of education programmes in Malawi penitentiaries (Kajawo, 2019; Kajawo & Nyirongo,
2022). Studies indicate that education started informally as early as 1980 during the one-par-
ty regime with the adult literacy programme in the penitentiaries (Kajawo, 2019; Kajawo &
Nyirongo, 2022). However, prisoners started demanding formal education in the early years
of the multiparty democratic dispensation in 1994 due to the new constitutional order which
recognised the universal right to education (GoM, 2018a). This was also the era in which Ma-
lawi introduced free primary education (GoM, 2020). Therefore, it made sense that prisoners
should also enjoy the right to education. Nonetheless, the establishment of formal education
gained momentum in the early 2000s when schools were introduced at four maximum prisons
in Malawi with the support of the incarcerated former teachers who volunteered to teach their
fellow prisoners (Kajawo, 2019; Kajawo & Nyirongo, 2022).
Through the years, formal education, which uses the national education system, had
been introduced in most prisons in Malawi (Kajawo & Nyirongo, 2022). The Malawi educa-
tion system uses an 8-4-4 education system consisting of the primary, secondary and university
levels (Ministry of Education, 2020). The primary school takes eight years from Standards 1
to 8. At the end of standard 8, learners sit for the Primary School Leaving Certicate Exam-
ination (PSLC), which determines their eligibility for secondary education. Secondary school
education takes four years; the Junior Certicate of Education (JCE) examination is sat in
Form 2, and the Malawi School Certicate of Education (MSCE) is sat in Form 4 (Ministry of
Education, 2020). Prisoners in various penitentiary facilities in Malawi have been sitting for
the national education examinations since 2003 (Kajawo, 2019; Kajawo & Nyirongo, 2022).
In 2020, education was available at 15 out of 30 prison facilities all over the country (Kajawo
& Nyirongo, 2022).
Among the penitentiaries, special attention in providing prisoners’ education has been
put on incarcerated young people lodged in the YPRCs (MPS, 2015). YPRCs concept was rst
put into practice in Malawi in 2010 when the MPS set up ve facilities to lodge young pris-
oners (Kajawo, 2019). The Malawi Prisons Act Section 2 denes the term ‘young prisoner’ as
“a prisoner under the apparent age of 19 years” and gives the discretion power to the ocer
in charge to admit individuals slightly within and exceeding the stated maximum age (GoM,
2018b, p. 1896). Like in many other prisons, the MPS is mandated to introduce educational
services in the YPRCs since they incarcerate school-aged young people (GoM, 2018b).
However, gaps still exist in the literature on the meaningfulness of education, espe-
cially for the incarcerated school-aged young people in prisons in developing countries. Few
studies on rehabilitation and education in Malawi have focused on adult oenders, and to this
researcher’s knowledge, very few on young prisoners (Stapleton, 2000). There was a need to
examine the meaningfulness of the education provided to school-aged individuals incarcerated
in YPRCs in Malawi since making education available is usually inadequate. Education should
be functionally accessible without institutional barriers (UN, 2015b); to make it a reality for
incarcerated school-aged young people and not a pipe dream. This article, therefore, examines
the practicality of the right to education at the ve YPRCs in Malawi. The article engages the
voices of prisoners and their released colleagues in examining the facilities’ availability and
access to education to ascertain if it is a reality or mere policy rhetoric. The article further
explores factors that are likely to aect juvenile prisoners’ rights and access to education thus
jeopardising its meaningfulness to their rehabilitation process.
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 270
Theoretical Framework
This article is guided by Marxist theory. Marxists believe there is always a struggle
between social classes (Marx & Engels, 1948; 2018). Marxists assert that educational oppor-
tunities are not provided equally to all people in society. They argue that the proletariats are
provided with an education of poor quality (Levitas, 2012). Marxists criticised the capitalistic
idea that education is a meritocratic system that provides equal chances of success to all people
irrespective of their social-economic status (Au, 2018). To Marxists, meritocracy is nothing
but a myth which legitimates class inequality and makes people believe that they all have
equal chances of success and that grades or measures of success depend on their eorts and
abilities (Alvarado, 2010; van Dijk et al., 2020). If they fail, the myth of meritocracy forces
them to believe that it is their fault (Alvarado, 2010; Au, 2018; Themelis, 2017). The so-called
‘meritocratic’ education system reproduces and legitimates class inequality (Bowles & Gintis,
2002). Inequality is reproduced since it is carried from one generation to the next. In society,
the middle class and other well-o parents use their wealth to ensure their children get a good
education from the best schools (Alvarado, 2010). Poor children are more likely to get a poor
standard of education, resulting in low educational returns and outcomes (Alvarado, 2010);
consequently, class inequality is reproduced.
In the penitentiary context, prison systems are state-controlled repressive environments
in the eyes of the Marxists. Althusser (1971) categorised prisons as among what he called the
‘repressive state apparatuses’ (Althusser, 1971, p. 145; Cole, 2008). Penitentiaries are closed
environments in which prisoners are tightly controlled (Farley & Pike, 2018). To the Marxists,
the regular prison culture and routines such as security classications, work parties, lock-downs
and headcounts usually impede fundamental human rights (Erisman & Contardo, 2005; Man-
zini, 2015). It is also argued that security is usually considered a priority in most penitentiaries
at the expense of rehabilitation activities such as education (Farley and Pike, 2018; Manzini,
2020).
However, in the rehabilitation lens, penitentiaries, especially those incarcerating school-
aged young prisoners, need to be spaces for rehabilitation and education (Davis et al., 2014;
Durrant, 2018; Farley & Pike, 2018; Meijer, 2017). Coates (2016) refers to education in prisons
as the pillar of eective rehabilitation, while Gehring (2017, p. 1) refers to it as the “hidden
heritage” of prison reforms (p. 1) because education, even though it is usually overlooked,
has always been a crucial rehabilitative activity (Finlay & Bates, 2018). Education is essen-
tial because it provides chances for prisoners’ meaningful lives during and after their release,
making them less likely to re-oend (Durrant, 2018; Farley & Pike, 2018; Jäggi & Kliewer,
2020; Pike & Hopkins, 2019). Finlay and Bates (2018) argue that education “enables a natural
process of self-transformation.” Farley and Pike (2018) believe that education improves cogni-
tive processing and enables prisoners to develop and embrace long-term life prospects. Farley
and Pike (2018) also observe that engaging in education enables prisoners to strongly identify
themselves in status above that of prisoners or criminals, which is rehabilitative in its own right
since it enhances positive or pro-social identities (Farley & Pike, 2018; Pike & Hopkins, 2019).
This is why it is argued that school-aged incarcerated young people deserve access to education
that meets “the minimal standards of mandatory public education” (Jäggi & Kliewer, 2020, p.
2).
Therefore, from the Marxist perspective, inequality is legitimated when young people
are warehoused in facilities with no access to quality basic education compared to the one en-
joyed by their counterparts outside the penitentiaries. It is dangerous, in the Marxists’ words, if
“…the bourgeoisie [authorities] fail to oer real education” to vulnerable incarcerated young
people (Cole, 2008, p. 30). Consequently, these young people would go back into poverty after
their release, hence recommitting more severe crimes for survival. Similarly, their children are
most likely to also engage in juvenile delinquency; thus the vicious circle of poverty and crime
is propagated by class inequality. This is why scholars condemn the incarceration of juveniles
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 271
as an outdated approach to dealing with delinquency since it does more harm than good (e.g.
Faruqee, 2016; Farley & Pike, 2018). Farley and Pike (2018) argue that incarceration often
disproportionately traps the already disadvantaged “segment of the population who are most
likely to suer from institutional racism, systemic bias, and social injustice” (Farley & Pike,
2018, p. 213) and the process, messing their already few lives’ chances or opportunities.
The Marxists, therefore, advocate for equal access to education by all children. Marx-
ists included the provision of free education to all children as one of the ten most important
principles in the Communist Manifesto (Marx & Engels, 2018). They even advocate for the ab-
olition of many forms of exploitation of children, such as child labour, that would disadvantage
them from acquiring similar education as accessed by other children. Marxism as a theory is
still relevant today. According to UNESCO (2015), oering education to people is not enough.
It should be of good quality to enable individuals to achieve economic and social goals. Society
should not be seen as treating young people outside prisons dierently from those incarcerated
(Heslin, 2016). If the law entitles every young person to quality education as a right, young
prisoners should also enjoy that entitlement since they are the neediest group.
Instead of using education as the ideological state apparatus (Althusser, 1971; Cole,
2008), the education of young prisoners can be a tool for rehabilitation, positive identity devel-
opment and personal change (Durrant, 2018; Farley & Pike, 2018; Jäggi & Kliewer, 2020; Pike
& Hopkins, 2019). In the Marxist lens, education can contribute to a more productive economy
and freedom if accessed and provided equally to all persons unimpeded by prejudice and social
status (Bowles & Gintis, 2002). Therefore, incarcerated young people need quality education.
In this article, the theory is helping in questioning the reality of the right to education for incar-
cerated young people. The theory further guides in gauging class inequality in young prisoners’
education that could reduce it to a ‘pipedream’.
Methodology
This article is based on qualitative research data from a study conducted between Au-
gust 2021 and October 2022 at ve YPRCs in Malawi. This qualitative segment used a descrip-
tive phenomenological research design in which the researchers conducted semi-structured
interviews with prisoners and released prisoners. Using this design, the researchers generated
rich and in-depth data from individuals who had lived experiences regarding the incarceration
phenomenon and how it impacts young people’s right to education (Creswell & Creswell,
2018; Dubey & Kothari, 2022). This is because phenomenological research aims at under-
standing the phenomenon through the participants’ lived experiences (Giorgi et al., 2017). The
interviews allowed the young prisoners to tell their stories regarding their incarceration and
how it aected their education rights. Statistics on prisoner populations and the number of
registered students at each facility were also accessed to triangulate participants’ perceptions
of enrolments.
Study Participants
The study involved a total of 52 participants; 27 school-aged prisoners and 25 previous-
ly incarcerated young people (released within three years). Five serving male prisoners were
purposively selected at each facility based on the predetermined vital characteristics such as
school attendance versus non-school attendance, gender and age variations to accommodate
participants’ maximum variations (Tracy, 2020). Two female prisoners were purposely added
to the prisoners’ sample from their population of ve, the only young females found at one
facility. Five released prisoners at each facility were selected and identied using quota and
snowball sampling techniques (Bachman & Schutt, 2018; Tracy, 2020). Reachable released
prisoners were identied and contacted by combining these techniques. The contacted partic-
ipants were used in tracking other released individuals tting the same study criteria through
peer referrals. The study, therefore, involved prisoners aged 17-25 (m=19.7) and released pris-
oners aged 19-27 (m=22.5). Prisoners and released prisoners were targeted because they were
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 272
the right people to voice out about the incarceration phenomenon in YPRCs (see Roni et al.,
2020; Sha, 2020). The lived experiences in the YPRCs were better and precisely described by
the “experiencer[s]” of incarceration at the targeted facilities themselves (Giorgi et al., 2017,
p. 186).
Data Collection
The study used two semi-structured interview guides for serving prisoners and previ-
ously incarcerated released individuals. The interviews were conducted in Chichewa, the Ma-
lawi national (vernacular) language. They were also audio-recorded to reduce possible errors in
transcription and interpretation of the participants’ stories. Each interview took approximately
40 minutes to complete in a single sitting. For the serving prisoners, the interviews were con-
ducted in privacy (in oces and classrooms) within the facilities. For the released individu-
als, the researcher allowed every prospective interviewee to choose any place comfortable for
them for face-to-face interviews to reduce costs on their part. For the telephone interviews, the
researcher allowed the participant to choose the right and comfortable time, which enhanced
connectivity and exibility (Sha, 2020).
The interviews included questions related to the participants’ perceptions of education
accessibility, levels and quality of education available, and the meaningfulness of education
as a rehabilitation tool. The interviews also probed on the adequacy of resources (materials,
infrastructures and educators), how the incarceration environment impact on their learning,
and general factors aecting the school-aged prisoners’ rights and access to education at the
YPRCs.
Data Analysis
In the analysis phase, the phenomenological analysis approach was used based on the
procedures indicated in Giorgi, (2009) and Giorgi et al. (2017), through which the recorded
interview audios were rst translated and transcribed from their original Chichewa to English
languages by the rst author with caution to avoid losing their original meanings. An inde-
pendent language expert checked the transcripts to reduce transcription errors. The analysis
phase followed multiple readings of the transcripts by the researchers to gain an overall sense
of the meaning of all the texts. Multiple stories and lengthy descriptions derived from the 52
transcripts were narrated to provide an accurate description of the texts. The descriptions were
broken into ‘meaning units’ and categorised to pave the way for proper analyses (Giorgi 2009;
Giorgi et al., 2017). In this way, dierent meaning units were selected and identied as codes
and themes in the MS text editor. A macro (ExtractCommentsToNewDoc) in MS word was
run to extract the coded data from prisoners’ and released prisoners’ transcripts, which were
eventually exported to excel sheets, enabling the organisation of themes and sub-themes. This
process created a richly descriptive narrative account of the stories of prisoners and released
prisoners.
Research Procedures
Approval to conduct this study was collected before data collection. The researcher
obtained ethical clearance from the UNISA College of Education Ethics Review Committee
(Ref: 2021/07/07/13450549/05/AM) and approval from the Malawi prison authorities to in-
volve the serving and released prisoners from the ve YPRCs in this study. The researcher used
the principles of connectivity, humanness and empathy (CHE) advocated by Brown & Danaher
(2017) and Sha (2020) in establishing interaction rapport with participants in interviews to
mitigate the power dynamics and imbalances. Using CHE principles, the research participants
were briefed regarding the purpose, procedure and ethical issues. The researcher explained and
showed the ethical clearance letters to the participants to indicate that permission was granted
for the study to enhance acceptability. This was done in line with the principle of connectivity
(Sha, 2020). Moreover, the researcher strived to maintain atmospheres of informality during
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 273
the interview sessions by, among other things, conducting the interviews in Chichewa, Mala-
wi’s local languages, and wearing simple clothes to reduce the traditional distance between the
researcher and participant in line with the principle of humanness (Brown & Danaher, 2017).
After this initial rapport-building phase, the participants were requested to sign or n-
gerprint the research consent forms before participating in the study. The interviews with serv-
ing prisoners were conducted in safe spaces (empty oces and classrooms) free of intrusion and
eavesdropping by third parties to enhance condentiality (Sha, 2020). Anonymity assurance
of individual participants, as well as the researcher’s emotional intelligence and self-awareness
of potential power disparity issues with the participants and between the participants and prison
ocers, assisted in rebalancing the power dynamics (Brown & Danaher, 2017; Sha, 2020).
Moreover, a pilot study was conducted at one of the adult prisons to ensure the instru-
ments’ reliability. The study used the “test-retest method” (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2009, p. 155).
Hence, minor issues and errors noted on the instruments were rectied. The trustworthiness of
data was ensured through the triangulation of multiple sources (Maxwell, 2012). Data collected
from prisoners were compared with data from the released individuals. The results were also
brought into the conversation with the existing scholarly literature to signicantly contribute to
academia.
Findings
The ndings have been arranged into two main themes; education was inconsistently
available and the oered education programmes were poorly enrolled due to several factors.
Each of these themes is discussed in turn. The second theme regarding factors contributing to
non-enrolment is further presented as six sub-themes. In this article, participants are identied
using the code “YP” (young prisoners) or “Ex-YP” (ex-young prisoners) combined with their
respective facility codes and their given unique numbers.
Education was inconsistently available and accessible at YPRCs
This study found that education was available and accessible to young prisoners at
many YPRCs in Malawi. Out of the ve facilities, the study found that education programmes
were provided at only four facilities, except at Facility 5. Respondents from the four facilities
reported that some levels of education (primary and secondary school) were freely accessible
to whosoever wished to enrol at their facilities, especially the convicted prisoners. At Facilities
2 and 3, even young prisoners on remand were reported to have been allowed to enrol and ben-
et from the education programme, as some prisoners narrated.
Yes, everyone, especially the convicted, is allowed to enrol in this school for both
secondary and primary school sections. The remandees…if one shows commit-
ment and sincerity, they are still allowed… In fact, they encourage long-sen-
tenced prisoners because they can achieve more in this kind of programme (F3/
YP/12).
Everyone who wants to enrol is allowed. Everyone, even those on remand, they
are allowed to be attending classes since classes are done within the cells’ area.
So, even those in the shamba working party [involved in working in the maize
eld] are also allowed to enrol. It is about someone’s decision as to whether
they should be schooling whilst here or not. But education is free and very ac-
cessible (F2/YP/07).
The school-attending prisoners and their released counterparts at the facilities where education
was provided indicated to have beneted from the education programmes. One young prisoner
said that before being incarcerated, he never had an educational opportunity:
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 274
Before I came here, I never had this education opportunity I have here; free ed-
ucation. I can see that my future has taken a good turn with this education, and
I am assured of reformation (F1/YP/05).
Even some released prisoners, mainly from Facilities 1 and 3, bared witness to the benet of
education programmes at YPRCs.
I beneted because it helped me acquire a lot of knowledge. Currently, I am
running a business, and I know that I am able to run the business well because
of the knowledge gotten at prison school. I am also doing a Motor Vehicle Me-
chanics course, of which the entry qualication is MSCE, which I got from the
same facility (F3/EX-YP/11).
These ndings are consistent with ndings from studies in many African countries
which report that many young prisoners’ facilities provide education opportunities to prisoners
(Aheisibwe & Rukundo, 2017; Ajah & Ugwuoke, 2018; Fambasayi & Moyo, 2020; Johnson,
2022; Makuwerere, 2020; Msoroka et al., 2018). Young prisoners are admitted at borstal train-
ing centres in Ghana and Kenya, where they access education services (Aheisibwe & Rukundo,
2017; Fambasayi & Moyo, 2020). In Lesotho, education is mandatory for juvenile oenders
(Johnson, 2022). In South Africa, education is seen as both a constitutional right and a “foun-
dation stone for rehabilitation”; hence is provided to all prisoners (Quan-Baour & Zawada,
2012, p. 73). Johnson (2015) indicates that South Africa has juvenile correctional centres that
are known as ‘centres of excellence’ where young people are provided with quality education.
Furthermore, these ndings illuminate the importance of education for young people incarcer-
ated in correctional facilities, concurring with what was found in many studies elsewhere that
education enhances the rehabilitation of individuals (Farley & Pike, 2018; Jäggi & Kliewer,
2020; Pike & Hopkins, 2019). This is also consistent with the Marxist idea of education in The
Communist Manifesto, which states that education can be benecial if the same quality of ed-
ucation is freely accessible to all young people (Alvarado, 2010; Au, 2018).
However, the study revealed inconsistencies in the provision of education programmes
among YPRCs in Malawi. This study revealed that all young people incarcerated at Facility 5
were completely denied access to education since education programmes were not provided at
the facility. According to one 18-year-old boy:
Here there is no school. This is not good. We are not being given an opportunity
to proceed with our education while here. Without school, our educational op-
portunities as young people here are being lost…If school was available here,
I would have enrolled in Standard 6 to continue with my education (F5/YP/22).
All young people including the school-aged boys were coercively involved in farming as their
major activity while serving their sentences at Facility 5.
The only thing I do here is work at the farm. This activity is not benecial
because farming here is like punishment...farming here is like bullying or teas-
ing…We go to the farm early in the morning. When we return here in the after-
noon, we don’t rest since we go back in the afternoon (F5/YP/25).
Apart from Facility 5, education programmes were also not provided in the female section of
Facility 2 (the only facility incarcerating females in this study). The two young female prison-
ers reported that they were not enrolled in any education programme at their facility.
We are not enrolled in school… [But] most of the girls who are at this facility
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 275
are illiterate. They are being denied a chance for education which our male col-
leagues on the other side are provided. This is not right. If possible, they should
introduce a school in this female section (F2/F-YP/26).
These ndings denote a notable inequality in the provision of education to young peo-
ple in Malawi’s YPRCs. These disparities in educational opportunity especially between incar-
cerated male and female prisoners are also reported by the studies conducted in many African
countries (Agboola, 2016; Korzh, 2021; Ryder, 2020). Nonetheless, education programmes
needed to be made accessible equally and equitably to all prisoners of all genders, especially
the school-aged incarcerated at YPRCs (Hawley et al., 2013; Jäggi & Kliewer, 2020; UNES-
CO, 2015). The ndings in this theme concur with the Marxists’ claims that educational oppor-
tunities are not provided equally to all people in society (Levitas, 2012; Marx & Engels, 2018).
Poor school enrolment and its contributing factors
Despite education being reported as available and benecial to the young prisoners
incarcerated at the four YPRCs, the interviews with various participants in this study showed
that most prisoners at those facilities were not enrolled in education programmes. In a bid to
verify and triangulate this claim, the school registration records at all facilities were consulted
to calculate the percentages of young prisoners registered and involved in education against the
facilities’ populations. Based on the data collected in October 2022, only 24% of the population
of young prisoners (N=748) were enrolled in education programmes at YPRCs in Malawi. This
implied that the majority (76%) were not engaged in any educational activity. These ndings
concur with what was found in a previous study done in 2020, which reported that more than
80% of prisoners in all penitentiary facilities in Malawi were not schooling, even though more
than 90% were school dropouts (Kajawo & Nyirongo, 2022). In the Marxist lens, this is un-
acceptable since all young people need education (Cole, 2008; Heslin, 2016; Marx & Engels,
2018).
In a bid to understand the reasons for these high rates of non-enrollment, participants
were asked to explain factors which they thought contributed to the low school enrolment of
many incarcerated school-aged young people at the YPRCs. Six sub-themes emerged, namely:
limited levels of education were inconsistently available, low quality of education demotivated
enrolment, discouragement due to their involvement in some work activities, prisoners’ lack of
interest in education, the negative learning environment, and physical abuse and ill-treatment.
Limited levels of education were inconsistently available and accessible
This study found that YPRCs in Malawi did not provide a wide range of educational
levels to suit the majority of prisoners’ educational needs contributing to some school-aged in-
dividuals not being involved in education. Firstly, the data shows that young people who were
in the post-secondary educational stage were left out since not even a single facility oered any
college or technical skills development programmes. The study found that only basic education
(primary and secondary) was available at most of the YPRCs. An example was one 18-year-old
boy who was a rst-year student at one of the public universities before his incarceration.
I couldn’t continue with my bachelor’s programmes here because it is not possi-
ble. I decided to just enrol in the secondary school level...to make myself busy to
avoid staying idle here…It is just I realised that here, the only thing that looks to
have signicance is school. I just wanted to have something to do while staying
here (F4/YP/19).
Ironically, recent studies conducted at adult prison facilities in Malawi report that tech-
nical and vocational skills training programmes were accessible to adult prisoners at maximum
security prisons (Kajawo, 2019; Kajawo & Nyirongo, 2022). These were the same programmes
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 276
that were not provided at YPRCs which were desperately needed by some incarcerated young
people. Non-provision of tertiary education in correctional facilities is not uncommon in Af-
rica. Studies report that many African correctional facilities were usually limited to provid-
ing primary and secondary education levels (Aheisibwe & Rukundo, 2017; Chigunwe, 2014).
However, studies report the provision of college and university education to incarcerated peo-
ple in some African countries such as in South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda (Aheisibwe &
Rukundo, 2017; Johnson, 2015; Msoroka, 2019). Aheisibwe and Rukundo (2017) cite the ‘In-
mates University Study Centre’ as an open learning centre established in partnership with Mak-
erere University that provides diploma and degree study programmes to prisoners in Uganda.
In South Africa, prisoners obtain university certicates, diplomas and degrees in correctional
facilities mostly through open and distance learning oered by various universities, including
UNISA (Johnson, 2015). The absence of tertiary education in YPRCs was limiting educational
access to some prisoners who had already completed the basic level.
Secondly, among the facilities providing basic education, one facility did not provide
post-primary studies (secondary education). The study revealed that only primary education
was available at Facility 2 even though it was clear that some incarcerated young prisoners
there needed secondary education. Consequently, most ex-secondary students at the facility
were involved in farming or engaged as volunteer teachers for primary school students. One
19-year-old young man who was in Form 2 (secondary school) before his incarceration report-
ed to have been engaged as a teacher instead of continuing with his education.
Since there is no secondary school here, I was asked by the education coordina-
tor if I can assist in teaching these primary school students as I was waiting for a
possible transfer to another facility. I assist my fellow prisoners as their teachers.
I have been volunteering as a teacher for four months. But I desperately wanted to
continue with my education in Form 2 as I was already disrupted by the COVID-19
pandemic’s school suspension but I don’t have that opportunity here (F2/EDU/09).
This meant that those young people who were in secondary schools before incarceration were
not given any chance to continue with their education at this facility thereby contributing to
the low-enrolments. These ndings show that many school-aged prisoners at the YPRCs in
Malawi were systemically denied an opportunity to continue with their education during their
incarceration.
Low quality of education demotivated enrolment
The general perception of all interviewees in this study was that the education was of
low quality in the YPRCs’ schools which discouraged many incarcerated young people from
enrolling. The interviewees indicated the inadequacy and unavailability of essential teaching
and learning resources such as library services, classrooms, prescribed textbooks, science lab-
oratories and other accessories such as books, pens, notebooks and mathematical instruments
as contributing to their perceived low-quality education in the YPRCs in Malawi. According to
one prisoner from the city-situated facility:
The education at this facility is of very low quality… the facility lacks resourc-
es making the education here to be not motivating. That is why many students
eventually lose interest and start absenting themselves… But for some of us, we
still attend because we just don’t want to worst our time (F4/YP/18).
Another 22-year-old student at Facility 1 reported that the inadequacy of learning re-
sources was putting students at a disadvantage in national examinations since they were unable
to access the resources their colleagues in the community schools were accessing.
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 277
We lack many resources, such as books, laboratory equipment and materials.
Imagine I take science subjects such as physics and chemistry but feel violated
as I have to write my examination with no preparations. This is putting us at
risk of failure. We have a library room, but there are no books that we can use.
Nowadays, access to information is eased by the use of the internet. But here we
have no gadgets to use for the internet since they are not allowed. So we don’t
have books; we only rely on the teachers’ notes. This is putting us at a great
disadvantage in terms of examinations (F1/YP/04).
The low-quality education at YPRCs’ schools was even conrmed by the released prisoners.
The education was of inferior quality. The resources were usually not available.
It usually took the personal eorts of the particular prisoner to do well by sourc-
ing those resources from relatives and family. Another challenge is class time
is very small. The school has no lab and a library for students (F2/EX-YP/07).
The participants also reported the inadequacy and, in some facilities, absence of qualied
teachers as the main factor contributing to low-quality education provided in the correctional
schools. The facilities were yet to recruit qualied secondary school teachers since they had
only qualied primary school teachers who were also not adequate. Thus, primary school teach-
ers were also teaching secondary school classes. These few qualied primary school teachers
were complemented by untrained members of sta and prisoners as volunteer educators at
some facilities. This was voiced out by almost all participants, including a 20-year-old student
at Facility 3. According to him:
Most of our teachers are fellow prisoners. We only have four members of sta
involved as teachers. Since they are uniformed prison sta, sometimes they are
engaged in other duties hence they miss their classes. This aects our education
(F3/YP/11).
The involvement of untrained educators was generally not motivating to students because they
were not serious with their teaching duties since they lacked the necessary teaching skills.
According to one prisoner who was engaged as an educator, involving unqualied prisoners as
teachers was counter-productive.
Involving prisoners like me in teaching here is not productive. I have my own
problems here regarding my life, and I am not that educated to teach others;
we only teach because there are no teachers…This is because trained teachers
know the teaching methodologies apart from knowing what they are teaching.
But people like me only teach out of the experience and because I learned those
things in my education (F2/EDU/06).
Thus, the uniformed members of sta were only involved in teaching mainly during their spare
time, resulting in frequent suspension of classes thereby making schooling not interesting to
those prisoners who were willing to learn at those prison facilities.
Therefore, this study found that education provided at Malawi YPRCs was generally
perceived as of low quality by participants, contributing to low enrollment as well as discour-
aging continued attendance by many incarcerated young people. This quality of education is
similar to the one the Marxists labelled as the proletariats’ education provided by the bourgeoi-
sie as an oppression tool of the marginalised groups of society (Levitas, 2012). This is the poor
quality education that the bourgeoisie think suits the proletariats to suit their working-class
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 278
status, which works in the bourgeoisies’ interests since it reproduces and legitimates class
inequality (Bowles & Gintis, 2002; Levitas, 2012). Previous studies concur with this study’s
ndings regarding the inadequacy of resources in correctional education programmes in Afri-
ca (Ajah & Ugwuoke, 2018; Bella et al., 2010; Ismaila, 2020). In Nigeria, Bella et al. (2010)
reveal that the education oered in many Nigerian juvenile facilities was marred with many
problems, including the inadequacy of school infrastructure, teachers and funds. Similar chal-
lenges were reported in Uganda, Nigeria, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Zambia at young prisoners’
centres (Ajah & Ugwuoke, 2018; Aheisibwe & Rukundo, 2017; Johnson, 2022; Mwenya &
Chibomba, 2019; Samanyanga, 2016). This just shows that prisoners’ education programmes
are hardly allocated resources in many jurisdictions.
Involvement in other work activities thwarts educational eorts
This study also found that the involvement of young prisoners in work activities con-
tributed to the majority not being enrolled or dropping out of education programmes. Accord-
ing to this study’s participants, it was dicult for most young prisoners to work in certain
permanent work parties and continue attending education classes in the YPRCs. Firstly, it was
highly likely that students assigned to the most prestigious and lucrative work parties would
drop out of school to concentrate on the newly assigned work activities. These were the activi-
ties in which prisoners were required to work outside the facilities’ four walls enabling them to
access the outside world. As one released young prisoner indicated, it was his greatest wish to
be put into those lucrative work parties, but he was never lucky. Instead, he just joined educa-
tion and resumed Standard 8, which he had dropped some years before his incarceration.
That place is dicult, especially when you are just staying inside. I wished I
could be put in sanitation or any other work party that regularly went outside,
but I never had that chance. It is the prison ocers who allocate people to
various work parties and activities. If you are not on good terms with them, you
cannot be put in any good work party. Only those prisoners who have a special
relationship with those prison ocers are given those opportunities for those
work parties. So I was never put in any work party. Hence, I just joined the
school. I started in standard eight (F4/EX-YP/17).
In contrast, a 20-year-old (standard seven dropouts) reported having earned the trust of the fa-
cility authorities and got promoted to the status of nyapala (prisoners’ in-charge). He was made
to be in charge of the facility’s sanitation party, which meant he would no longer be involved
in the most onerous work party of farming. This is what he had to say when he was asked to
justify his non-enrolment in education.
School is good, but I am usually busy with other things I do at this facility. I am
busy in the sanitation working party; I also go out to search for rewood and I
am a nyapala. So I just decided not to involve myself in education (F2/YP/07).
Young prisoners even reported that some of their colleagues were attracted to the work parties
that enabled them to frequently go outside at the expense of their educational pursuance since
they provided a rare opportunity for them to access and use contrabands such as chamba (Indi-
an hemp) which were dicult to access and use inside the four walls.
Some of the prisoners use drugs such as chamba. So they usually know that if
they are to enrol in school, most of the time they will be in class hence they won’t
have time to go outside to smoke their chamba because it is literally impossible
for a prisoner to smoke inside the facility. So even for those who really wish they
could enrol, they would not trade o with the opportunity of going outside to get
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 279
a chance to smoke (F1/YP/04).
The young people were willing to trade o their educational opportunities for instant
temporary gratications. Studies reveal that young prisoners are likely to seek temporary short-
term gratications because of their immaturity, naivety and vulnerability to peer inuence (Mc-
Mahon & Jump, 2017; Nagin et al., 1995; Suzuki & Wood, 2018). Thus, it made sense that
young people would opt for activities that produce more immediate gratication than education
if they are not properly counselled or guided.
Secondly, it was also highly likely for young prisoners not to enrol or drop out when
they were involved in work (manual labour) that was considered painful. The study found that
many school-aged prisoners were reportedly not schooling because of their involvement in
farming.
I initially enrolled in Standard 3 and even started attending classes. But after
some time, I decided to stop attending classes. I stopped attending classes be-
cause of the workload... They forcefully involve everyone at this facility in farm-
ing, including students. They don’t leave anybody to study. We were working in
the farm in the morning, and attended classes from 1 pm to 2 pm, usually just
for an hour and sometimes two. So I was always tired, so I decided to stop (F2/
YP/06).
This narrative represented the norm in the perceptions and feelings of the majority of young
prisoners involved in this study. Farming was consuming most of the precious time of incarcer-
ated young people including those involved in education.
These ndings show that the involvement of young prisoners in particular work par-
ties discouraged their enrolment in education. However, the involvement of students in other
work activities is not an exclusive Malawi experience since studies in other parts of the world,
including Slovakia and Zambia, have also reported the same (Lukacova et al., 2018; Mwenya
& Chibomba, 2019). According to these studies, students in correctional facilities had minimal
time to learn in a day since lessons were usually conducted in the afternoons after the prisoners
had knocked o from their manual work when they were too exhausted to concentrate on aca-
demic work (Lukacova et al., 2018; Mwenya & Chibomba, 2019). This makes the penitentiary
environment dicult for students to excel in their studies since there is hardly time for them to
read their books.
Prisoners’ lack of interest in education
This study found that despite other factors, the prisoners’ enrolment and continued at-
tendance to educational activities in YPRCs were greatly dependent on their intrinsic interest
and motivation. This also could be because of their ages which were related to immaturity and
naivety discussed earlier, which aected their decisions on life goals and priorities (McMahon
& Jump, 2017; Nagin et al., 1995). In this study, most of the prisoners at the facilities where
education was available lacked interest in education even though the education was free. A
21-year-old released young man who was already a standard seven dropout before his incar-
ceration had this to say:
I saw that school would take me a long time to achieve my goals. I know myself.
I know that I don’t have that interest in education… School is not for everyone.
Some of us just have to do other things (F3/EX-YP/14).
One 18-year-old boy who dropped out of school in standard two and joined a robbery gang in
his community confessed that he never liked school, even before his incarceration.
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 280
As a matter of fact, I never liked school, even at home. My parents wanted me
to continue with school. Other extended family members also supported me in
continuing with school. But school has never been my thing (F4/YP/17).
Another 20-year-old young man, who reported dropping out of school in standard seven before
his incarceration, acknowledged that education was accessible to everyone who wanted to en-
rol at Facility 2 but was not enrolled. He felt there was no need to enrol because his economic
status would not allow him to continue schooling after his release.
Education is free and accessible to everyone who wants it here, but I am not
interested in enrolling. Firstly, I don’t see any future in further pursuance of
education after my release from this facility. It is only here that one can get
free education. I will need to look for money to pay for my education after my
release, besides paying for my bills and basic needs. I cannot manage. So the
money I might have will need to be used productively rather than just wasting
on fees. All I wanted from education was to be able to read and write, and I can
do that; hence I don’t need any more education (F2/YP/07).
This young man’s education apathy could have partly been attributed to the huge young peo-
ple’s unemployment rates in the country. Even though the number of young people unemployed
in Malawi was estimated at 9.5% in 2020, the economically inactive working-age population
was estimated at 29% (Danish Trade Union Development Agency, 2022, p. 17). Therefore, this
young man did not see the value of education in his life.
Moreover, in my community, there are many young people who are educated; in
my family, we have six or seven educated boys, but it is only one of them who
is employed and the rest are still unemployed at home, still dependent on their
parents. And for this one who is employed, he had to struggle to get the job. So,
I don’t think I can gain a lot from education (F2/YP/07).
These results suggest that the low enrolment rate in education programmes among in-
carcerated young people was mainly due to the structural inequalities caused by economic
injustices and poverty propagated by lack of employment opportunities to many young people
in the Malawian communities. Consequently, some young people did not see the value of get-
ting an education since the opportunities for meaningful work opportunities were limited. This
was exacerbated by the lack of proper counselling, guidance, and motivation within the prison
environment to arouse educational interest in young prisoners with school dropout and illiter-
acy backgrounds. Without proper educational guidance and motivation, it is unlikely for many
incarcerated delinquent young people to decide to enrol in school, especially at penitentiary
facilities.
The negative learning environment
The environment in which an education facility is located has a critical role in the quali-
ty of education provided. Correctional facilities need to provide a safe and peaceful atmosphere
of trust and care for eective learning (Ornstein & Levine, 2008; Warr, 2016). However, young
prisoners in this study reported that the environment in YPRCs was generally not conducive
to education. They complained of disturbances within the classroom area, noise in their cells,
poor diet, and overcrowding. One 17-year-old juvenile had this to say:
We have classrooms, but they are disturbed by the noise from the outside. Our
accommodations are not good for our studies because we are not allowed to
study our notes during the night. Since the nyapalas are tasked to ensure the
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 281
security of prisoners in every cell, they suspect that if someone is awake while
they are asleep, they might escape. Hence when the nyapalas are going to sleep,
everyone is forced to stop whatever they are doing and sleep (F1/YP/05).
One environmental factor aecting school-going young people was overcrowding which was
made worse because they were mixed with non-school-going prisoners. This was the cause of
the noise. This factor also contributed to the discouragement of many school-aged young peo-
ple who initially had the willingness to pursue their educational goals in prison.
Honestly speaking, school and imprisonment are not related. We are overcrowd-
ed in the cells. It is dicult to study during the night because of the congestion.
Imagine you are sleeping on the shamba [the middle part of the oor], and
other prisoners who are not students are singing or making noise; how can you
study? So the way we sleep is not suitable for studying which ma (F4/YP/16).
This nding was consistent with previous studies that reported that schools in penitentiary
facilities face several challenges. The challenges include scarcity of quiet places for students
to study or read, congestion and numerous disruptions to schooling caused by the archaic
prison laws, and limited class periods (e.g. Aheisibwe & Rukundo, 2017; Mwenya & Chibom-
ba, 2019). Prisons are naturally educationally negative environments which are unlikely to be
suitable learning spaces if left without serious checking (Gona et al., 2014; Hopkins & Farley,
2015).
Physical abuse and ill-treatment by prison ocers and fellow prisoners
This study found that the prison environment was perceived as not conducive due to
the prisoners’ physical abuse and ill-treatment. Literature indicates that rehabilitation centres
ought not to be arenas of harsh and inhumane treatment of prisoners but for their rehabilita-
tion (Cullen & Gilbert, 2013; Durrant, 2018; Duwe, 2017). This study’s ndings at facilities
three and four did not show any physical abuse or ill-treatment. However, the reported lived
experiences were opposite at the remaining three facilities and the male side of Facility 2. Both
serving and released prisoners at Facilities 1, 2 and 5 complained of the harsh treatment they
experienced perpetrated by some prison ocers and fellow prisoners (the nyapalas), especially
when working in the maize elds. This inhumane treatment also contributed to their lack of
interest in enrolling in school.
This is not a good living place. We experience harsh treatment here. We are
whipped when we are working on the farm. Furthermore, we are forced to work
beyond our capacity. We do ‘ntchito yakalavula gaga’ [hard, painful labour].
We do not even have time to rest. The prison warders instruct the nyapalas to
make us work hard, so they whip and beat us to make us work harder. We do not
even receive soap regularly. Imagine I have one prison uniform, I only wash it
once per month (F5/YP/22).
The current and released young prisoners reported that the school-going individuals were not
spared in these harsh treatments since they were also involved as labourers in the farms along-
side their non-school attending colleagues. It was revealed that many prison ocers were not
supporting prisoners’ education.
They don’t support students; in fact, they are harsh to school-attending prison-
ers. Sometimes when we are in class, the warders would come and take you out
to work in the maize eld. Many of them don’t care about the education of young
prisoners. So the teachers have no say because it is believed that all inmates are
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 282
in the hands of the security warders, not the teachers. In fact, many of the prison
ocers were not supporting the school (F1/EX-YP/01).
Many respondents in this study faulted the prison policy of combining education and farming
activities at one young prisoners’ facility. According to many current and released prisoners,
many prison ocers at farming facilities did not like those prisoners seriously pursuing their
education goals as they considered them as they are using education to avoid working on the
farm. To them, prisoners lost their educational privileges when they oended in their commu-
nities and were thereby sent to prison for punishment. Thus, prisoners did not deserve educa-
tion while serving their sentences. Therefore, pursuing education in prisons made many young
people primary targets of harsh treatment. As a result, many school-aged young prisoners were
discouraged to enroll or continue pursuing their educational goals in the facilities. This was
well depicted in one ex-prisoner’s narration.
Many prison ocers even tell prisoners that they came to prison to be punished
for the wrong they did outside. Hence, they need to work on the farm and not
just waste time with education which they failed to continue outside. They look
at those juveniles as enslaved people. They forget that even the law gives those
juveniles the right to education. However, they think education is just an unde-
served privilege enjoyed by prisoners. They usually see those prisoners enrolled
in education as trying to avoid working in the eld, hence trying not to serve
their sentence. To them, imprisonment is about hard labour (F2/EX-YP/07).
These are the kinds of prison regimes that abolitionists say “brutalises prisoners, hu-
miliates them, and educates them in the ways of crime” rather than rehabilitating them (Cullen
& Gilbert, 2013, p. 71). These are the conditions that Marxists observed to disadvantage the
already unprivileged young people from acquiring similar education accessed by others. The
harsh treatment could demoralise and dehumanise young prisoners, making them not see the
value of education. Moreover, this is a blatant abuse of the constitutional rights of juveniles.
Section 23 of the Republic of Malawi Constitution states that all children and young people are
entitled to be protected from any punishment, treatment, or work hazardous to their physical
and mental health and likely to disrupt their education (GoM, 2018a). The participants’ obser-
vations in this sub-section indicate how harsh treatment of prisoners generally aects young
prisoners’ decisions to enrol and attend classes.
Discussion
The study has exposed the disparity between the Malawian correctional policies pre-
sented in the background section and the reality on the ground. Non-resourcing of the education
function by the government translated into the provision of inferior quality education. Worse
still, education was completely absent at one of the facilities where school-aged prisoners were
incarcerated. It is unacceptable to nd countries with YPRCs that deny young people access to
education in the twenty-rst century (Zitko, 2021). It is poignantly confusing to nd a ‘reha-
bilitation centre’ without rehabilitative activities such as education. ‘Warehousing’ school-aged
young people in prisons without an opportunity for education access should not be condoned
in the 21st century. It was not right to listen to the voices of the school-aged young people who
were forced to work as enslaved people on prison farms while being denied access to educa-
tion. Moreover, the available education at some facilities was marred by substantial resource
problems, inadequately staed with unqualied teachers, and limited to only basic education
level, rendering it a useless poor quality ‘proletariats’ education in the Marxists’ words (Levi-
tas, 2012).
Malawi had provided an enabling legal and policy framework for providing young pris-
oners with education. However, what was still missing in the equation was the will of the poli-
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 283
cymakers and authorities to adequately nance and resource education. As it was, what seemed
to have changed after the new policy was the change of the names from ‘prison stations’ to
‘Young Prisoners’ Rehabilitation Centres’ (YPRCs) but not the activities. In reality, the facil-
ities were still the “custodial warehouses misnamed penitentiaries and correctional facilities”
so that the country could be seen as moving within the global correctional agenda (Cullen &
Gilbert, 2013, p. 65). This incarceration picture portrayed the Marxists’ idea of the ‘repressive
state apparatuses’ of prison systems (Cole, 2008, p. 30), which needed to be changed.
This study’s ndings further show that access to education was still blocked by a lack
of motivation mechanisms for the young prisoners to enrol and benet from such educational
opportunities. As the ndings portray, young people are often psychosocially immature. They
generally come into the correctional facilities with histories of troubled pasts, illiteracy, school
dropout, suspensions and expulsion, and family problems and poverty (Cole & Chipaca, 2014;
Isu, 2015; Lambie & Randell, 2013; Ou & Reynolds, 2010; Quan-Baour & Zawada, 2012).
This was likely to make them develop apathy towards education and schooling thereby easily
giving up on their educational goals. This could be the reason most of them were reported to
be attracted to lucrative work parties that could provide instant gratication instead of pursuing
their educational goals for their futures. Therefore, just making education available at YPRCs
is not enough. Blomberg et al. (2011) argue that programmes such as formal education that
do not provide special education services that are essential to young prisoners with signicant
learning and psychological problems in penitentiary facilities are usually not eective. The
education programmes must be augmented with other programmes that target mindset change
(Durrant, 2018; Hollin & Palmer, 2006; Stone, 2020). The school-aged prisoners in YPRCs
needed specic programmes that motivate them to realise the importance of education for their
pro-social lives, social autonomy and reintegration.
Conclusion
This article has examined the practicality of the right to education at the ve young
prisoners’ rehabilitation centres (YPRCs) in Malawi. Drawing on the ndings from the inter-
views with the 52 participants, the article argues that there was huge inequality in the provision
of education to the incarcerated young people in Malawi’s YPRCs. Despite education being
perceived by young prisoners as benecial for their continued schooling and successful reinte-
gration after release, it was noted that education was inconsistently available and accessible at
the YPRCs. Out of the ve facilities, the study found that education was provided at only four
facilities. It was noted that all young prisoners at one YPRC and female prisoners were com-
pletely denied access to education since education programmes were not provided. Ironically,
education was provided to male prisoners at the same facility where all female prisoners were
denied access.
The article further revealed that 76% of school-aged prisoners incarcerated at the four
facilities where education was available were not enrolled or had dropped out of school. It is
argued that the prisoners’ enrolment and continued attendance to the available educational
activities in YPRCs are greatly dependent on their intrinsic interest and motivation. In this
study, enrolment was greatly discouraged by the delinquent young prisoners’ immaturity and
naivety which aected their decisions on life goals and priorities, thus, opting for immediate
gratications in prestigious and lucrative work parties at the expense of their education. There-
fore, the almost absence of learning resources in the YPRCs’ schools, their involvement in
painful farming activities, and the negativity of the prison environment at most of the facilities
characterised by physical abuse and ill-treatments demotivated many school-aged prisoners’
enrollment and continued attendance to education programmes. Additionally, some prisoners
were automatically left out from enrollment since the facilities did not provide a wide range of
educational levels such as tertiary and even secondary education suitable for their educational
needs.
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 284
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Samson Chaima Kajawo holds a PhD in Education from the University of South Africa. His
scholarship aims to investigate how the incarceration of various groups of prisoners such as
young people and women impacts on their rights and access to quality education in correctional
facilities and after their release. His research interests also include education quality, prisoners’
rehabilitation, as well as prisoners’ conjugal rights and visits in Africa. He has worked in Ma-
lawi Prisons Service for 22 years in posts related to sta training and prisoners’ education. He
also teaches part-time at various universities in Malawi.
Lineo Rose Johnson is an Associate Professor at the University of South Africa, School of Ed-
ucational Studies. Her academic background is in adult education specializing in correctional
(adult) education in the Department of Adult, Community and Continuing Education. She has
researched and published widely in correctional education, adult literacy, community develop-
ment and indigenous knowledge systems.
Kajawo&Johnson/Journal of Prison Education and Reentry Vol7(3) 289
Appendix: Interview Guides for Data Collection
Interview guide for prisoners
1. Note their gender and age. Inquire about their academic qualications and their previ-
ous level of education in the community before their conviction.
2. Encourage him/her to tell their story from their rst day in the prison system. For exam-
ple, how they were received, what were the rst programmes or activities they were engaged
in?
3. Inquire on the eectiveness of those activities and programmes on their well-being in
the correctional system and their lives after their release.
4. Ask if education is oered at their facility. Ask about how education is administered at
their facility. E.g. Enrolment, the levels or classes oered, is it compulsory or not? Is it acces-
sible to everyone?
5. Ask if he or she has ever been involved in education whilst in the correctional system.
E.g. If they are not enrolled, ask why. Check their level of education, and inquire why they are
not enrolled in free education oered in prison when they need it. Dig for more information.
6. If they are or were engaged in education programmes, inquire about their motivation
in participating in those education programmes. Also, inquire about the quality of education
oered. E.g. issues such as its accessibility to inmates, the prison environment and its eect on
their education. Also, inquire about the availability, accessibility and quality of the classrooms,
libraries, laboratories, teachers, hostels and food.
Interview guide for previously incarcerated young people
1. Note their gender, age and current occupation. Inquire about the rehabilitation pro-
grammes they were involved in when they were at the Young Prisoners’ Rehabilitation Centre.
2. Inquire if they have ever been to school before going to the rehabilitation facility. If
they dropped out, which class or level of education did they drop out of school? Did they join
school whilst in the rehabilitation facility?
3. For those who did not enrol in the education programme. Inquire from them if the facil-
ity they were admitted to provided formal education opportunities. If YES, then why did they
not enrol for schooling?
4. For those who reported having enrolled for education whilst incarcerated, inquire about
their schooling and on why they joined schooling whilst serving their sentences. Inquire about
the quality of school facilities and teaching and learning resources in prison schools.
5. Inquire if they think they beneted from the education they got in the prison facility.
E.g. did they obtain any certicates? Did they get employed because of the prison education
outcomes? What were the challenges they think were faced in the provision of education pro-
grammes at their previous prison facility?
