Malawi Prison Service deploys CCTV to curb mobile money fraud behind bars

* The rampant mobile money fraud is perpetrated by prison inmates after several of them were caught with mobile phones and multiple SIM cards

* Visitors have also been caught trying to smuggle SIM cards inside the prison hidden in food, confirming that the penitentiaries are grounds for mobile phone fraud

By Pickson Chipeso, Malawi News Agency (MANA)

The Malawi Prison Service has installed closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at Zomba Central Prison to enhance security and curb mobile money fraud coordinated from within the facility.

It has been reported and confirmed that the country’s rampant mobile money fraud is perpetrated by prison inmates after several of them were caught with mobile phones and multiple SIM cards.

Visitors have also been caught trying to smuggle SIM cards inside the prison hidden in food, confirming that the penitentiaries are grounds for mobile phone fraud.

Malawi Prisons public relations officer, Steve Meke told MANA on Tuesday that the installation adds another layer of security and will help create a conducive environment for offender rehabilitation.

“We expect to have a more conducive environment for offender rehabilitation, significantly reduce mobile money fraud-related cases and enhance the general security of the prison station, which is crucial for national development,” Meke said.

He noted that Zomba Central Prison is one of the country’s major correctional facilities and that security at prison stations is key to national development.

In a separate interview, security expert, Dr Sherriff Kaisi, described the installation as a significant and long-overdue development in Malawi’s correctional security architecture.

Kaisi said CCTV contributes to rehabilitation by reducing violence and intimidation, protecting vulnerable inmates and improving staff-inmate relations.

“In a nutshell, security and rehabilitation are not opposites,” he said. “A well-monitored prison is a more humane and more reformative prison.”

Kaisi noted that Zomba Central Prison is one of the country’s largest and most congested facilities, where security has historically relied heavily on human surveillance, limited by low staff numbers, fatigue and blind spots.

However, he cautioned that cameras alone do not rehabilitate offenders, saying their effectiveness depends on camera coverage, monitoring protocols, trained personnel and integration with broader security systems.

He said CCTV should, therefore, be used as part of a wider strategy, noting that mobile money fraud coordinated from prisons typically requires illicit mobile phones and SIM cards smuggled into the facility,

The gadgets, he said, get into the facilities through unmonitored communication windows in cells, washrooms or through corrupt facilitation by staff or visitors.

According to Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), inmates are responsible for up to 90% of reported mobile money scams in the country.—Edited by Duncan Mlanjira; Maravi Express