Death row inmates of Luzira Upper Prison have asked the Government to consider them for custodial sentences so as to give them a second chance at life.

A custodial sentence ranges from 1 to 20 years depending on the magnitude of the crime committed.

In 2015, the Judicial Service Commission developed new sentencing guidelines indicating that the death sentence still stands according to its guiding principles.

Damian Muhumuza, a death row inmate on robbery charges told New Vision Online that, “replacing the death convictions with custodial sentences will assist prisoners sentenced to suffer death to reform gradually and hence be given a second chance to life".

Muhumuza who has so far spent 20 years in prison waiting for the hangman’s noose, says a number of death row inmates have realised their mistakes, therefore, capable of living a responsible life if given the opportunity to go back to the community they once lived in.

“Having stayed in prison for decades, some of us have realised our past mistakes and humbly appeal to the Government for a second chance. Hanging prisoners may not be the best solution because a dead person can neither reform nor be rehabilitated," Muhumuza appealed.

Uganda’s prisons currently accommodate 111 inmates sentenced to suffer death. Of these, 109 are men while two are women.

During his visit to Luzira Upper Prison, the request for custodial sentences was brought to the attention of former principal judge Yorokamu Bamwine who noted that, “the death sentence was not abolished, but what was abolished was the mandatory nature of the death penalty. The death penalty is now discretional".

Bamwine, however, explained that, “According to the new sentencing guidelines, jurisprudence has changed. Life imprisonment now means that a convict will remain in jail for the rest of their life without remission. With promises that the custodial sentences issue will be forwarded to Judicial Reform Commission.”

According to the Constitutional Court ruling, judgment was left to discretion of the judge. This implies that if one commits a crime that fetches a death penalty, it depends upon the trial judge to either sentence the person to death or imprisonment for life.

Previously, if a person was sentenced to life imprisonment, they would be required to serve 20 years with remission. This follows the 2003 Constitutional Court ruling in a petition filed by Suzan Kigula and 417 other death row inmates who sought to abolish the death sentence.

However, the Supreme Court refused to outlaw the death penalty noting that, once the death sentence is confirmed, the condemned person should either be executed within three years, or his sentence commuted to life imprisonment.