Halfway to a Better Future

“They are expected to have learned their lesson through punishment and pain,” says PF Malawi Staff Member Richard Tembo. In reality, prison leaves inmates ill-equipped for a productive life on the outside.

To counter this trend, PF Malawi has established a Halfway House  where ex-prisoners will learn lasting life lessons to help prepare them to be productive members of society. Those who transition to PF‘s halfway House receive vocational and life skills training, plus spiritual and moral counselling.

Since it opened last year, PF‘s Halfway House is the only such service for released prisoners in Malawi. Currently, the house serves primarily young men charged with petty offences and women prisoners with small babies. Residents at the house can learn carpentry, tailoring, agriculture or construction. Once trained in a job skill, they are given the tools, such as a sewing machine or carpentry equipment, and the financial assistance they‘ll need to begin earning money on the outside. PF staff and volunteers also teach biblical truths through Bible studies and discussions on forgiveness, reconciliation and discerning right from wrong. Residents stay at the home for a minimum of three months and a maximum of six months. Volunteers follow-up with all of the home‘s graduates to offer continued encouragement and support.

Though the Halfway House has only been in operation for a year, PF Malawi is already seeing the fruits of its labour. Some of the first graduates of the Halfway House programme have stayed on to help with the work of PF. Susan, one of the home‘s first residents, was hired by PF Malawi as a paralegal to assist women prisoners with legal matters as part of PF‘s Access to Justice Project. “When I was convicted and sentenced I said it was the end of my life,” Susan recalls. “When I came to the Halfway House I could see my value and potential.”

After completing only one year of nursing school, Chifundo was convicted and sentenced to prison for forging her certificates. She later appealed and the verdict was reversed. Chifundo learned about PF‘s Halfway House from a pamphlet and became another of the home‘s first residents. PF helped her enrol in a nursing school and she is now using her skills to educate the other residents on HIV/AIDS as part of PF Malawi‘s HIV/AIDS project. “I could have been a nobody after release from prison,” says Chifundo, “but now, I can foresee hope and a positive future with the Halfway House.” PF conducts weekly meetings with the residents to discuss issues surrounding HIV/AIDS, and residents are given individual counselling and encouraged to get tested for the disease. More than 14% of all Malawians are infected with HIV and rates are even higher among the prison population. “It is very important that the residents at the Halfway House are aware of the dangers concerning HIV/AIDS and that they are prepared to protect themselves and their families,” notes Richard, who also serves as the Halfway House Programme Officer.

Ex-prisoners Tryman and Christina found yet another benefit to staying at PF‘s Halfway House. They met at the house and were married three months after graduating. Tryman learned carpentry during his stay and is now making roofs for houses in Nkhatabay, where he is from. Christina was trained in tailoring and now she sews clothes that she sells in the local village.

From spiritual counselling to health education to job training, PF Malawi‘s Halfway House prepares released prisoners for a better life on the outside. “The concept is centred on helping the offender emerge from the house a positively changed person, with vocational and life sustainable skills so that he/she can understand his/her roles and responsibilities as a useful citizen in a democratic Malawi,” comments Richard. Residents of PF Malawi's Halfway House learn agricultural skills in the adjacent garden.