A total of 286 children remain incarcerated with their mothers in different prisons across the country, assistant commissioner general of prisons in charge of correction services Milton Tiyo has said.

Tiyo says most of these children were taken to prison by their pregnant mothers who prove to have no close relatives to whom the responsibility can be relegated.

He made the revelation during the training of prisons senior personnel organised on Thursday by the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) in Entebbe municipality. 

However, according to Tiyo, the Uganda Prisons Services has a budget for taking care of such children in addition to aid from other non-governmental organisations.

"We help to keep them up to 18 months, but sometimes, this period is extended up to three years," Tiyo said, adding that in some prisons such as Luzira, Mbarara, Arua and Gulu, there are daycare centres where during day time, children stay, and return to their mothers at night. 

He appealed for extra socio-psychological support from wellwishers, to help in their mental and physical growth.

Number of prisoners

He added that there are 75,991 prisoners out of whom, 38,837 are convicts and already serving their sentence. Those on remand are said to be 36,738 whereas there are 14,468 staff.

During the training, UHRC chairperson Mariam Wangadya said the strategic meeting with senior prisons officers is designed for critical engagements to enhance ongoing efforts to entrench a human rights culture in the work of the Uganda Prisons Service. 

According to Wangadya, the engagement aimed at redressing complaints of human rights violations and monitoring the human rights situation in the country as well as the government's compliance with international treaty obligations.

"It is our duty and obligation to ensure that every person in Uganda, particularly persons in detention who are among the vulnerable, effectively enjoy their Rights and fulfil their duties and responsibilities," she said.

"We are alive to the nature and demands of your work. We appreciate your challenges dealing with sometimes innocent prisoners including unfortunate babies. We wish to see how these challenges can be navigated with minimum or no unintended harm," Wangadya added.

She advised that the health records of each prisoner are maintained and kept well in order to avoid liability and in case of underlying health complications, warders were advised to seek medical attention from government health facilities.