Excessive, prolonged remands trigger Arua prison congestion

ARUA - The non-disposal of cases in Arua regional prison facilities has triggered devastating congestion.

The facilities meant for a limited number of inmates currently are reportedly hosting an unprecedented number due to prolonged remands.

During the Arua High Court Open Day on March 18, 2025, it was revealed that close to half of the current occupants of the prison facilities are the suspects on remand, some of whom have spent years without trial.

Jane Ayikoru, the in-charge women's prisons, Arua, who represented the regional prisons officer during the open day, revealed that as of Tuesday, the region had 4,259 inmates with 15 children.

She said the major challenge faced is congestion as the numbers have surpassed the capacity of the facilities.

“In Arua main [prison], we are supposed to have 200 inmates but we have 1,200 and of which there are only about 483 convicts and over 720 are remanded; in Arua Women, we are supposed to have only 24  but we are having 96 women with 56 convicts and 43 remands,” Ayikoru said.

Ronald Onencan, the vice-president of the Uganda Law Society West Nile chapter, appealed to Principal Judge Dr Flavian Zeija, the deputy Chief Justice designate, to expedite the process of operationalising the two high court circuits of Moyo and Nebbi to decongest the regional court circuit in Arua.

He said the lack of affordability and long distance is curtailing litigants interested in appealing some of the High Court decisions in the region due to the lack of Court of Appeal.

Committed to opening more courts

However, Zeija who officiated the Arua High Court Open session, reiterated the Judiciary’s commitment to opening more High Court circuits and magisterial courts in the West Nile to help decongest the prisons.

“As Judiciary, we are aware of the challenges you faced with that you have reiterated today and in order to serve you better, the judiciary has deliberately taken the following reforms one is to establish more courts across the country  and the regional circuits of courts of appeal, including in Arua and the priority will be given to you who have given us the land and we are opening more high court circuits in Moyo and Nebbi and priority will be given for the one of Moyo to serve the districts of Moyo, Adjumani, Obongi and Yumbe; we are still waiting for the judicial officers.”

He said other reforms include, the provision of mobile courts, establishment of magisterial courts in every district, mobile court system, online delivery of justice, alternative dispute resolution mechanism and Plea bargain.

Richard Muhereza from the West Nile Office of Director of Public Prosecution said they have cordial co-operation between the different agencies like the judiciary, the Police and the state attorney’s office, which has simplified their work and increased the number of convictions as they continue registering complaints from the litigants.

On the status of the case in Arua High Court as of March 18, 2025, Arua High Court resident judge Grace Harriet Magala indicated an overwhelming number of backlogs that she pledged to prioritise.

According to her, there are 596 criminal matters with 74 backlogs; civil matters were 607 with 298 backlogs, 111 family cases and 647 with 323 backlogs.

“Some of the actions we are taking to ensure that the justice is delivered are: Encouraging the lawyers to embrace ADR, I am discouraging unnecessary adjournment and I am becoming intentional about the case backlogs and I want to give them a priority. With the cordial relationship we have with different players, such as ODPP, I believe we shall be able to deliver the required justice for the people of West Nile,” Magala said.