Inmates prefer jail to bail - Anglin
Jun 06, 2007
MANY inmates prefer staying in jail to being bailed, MPs heard yesterday. Some of these prisoners do not want to get out of prison because they think that if they wait a bit longer, they will find their witnesses either dead or have lost interest in the case.
By Mary Karugaba
MANY inmates prefer staying in jail to being bailed, MPs heard yesterday.
“Some of these prisoners do not want to get out of prison because they think that if they wait a bit longer, they will find their witnesses either dead or have lost interest in the case,†the High Court Registrar, Flavia Anglin, told the Public Accounts Committee. The MPs had demanded an explanation why court grants bail to prominent individuals and leaves out others.
“Where is the justice you practise? What criteria do you use to grant bail? You grant bail to prominent individuals like Jim Muhwezi, Michael Mukula and others and leave those who went there (prison) first?†Nandala Mafabi (Budadiri) asked.
The former health ministers, Muhwezi and Mukula, are facing charges of embezzlement and were released on bail recently.
Anglin, who was among the Judiciary officials who appeared before the committee to answer queries which were raised by the Auditor General in the financial year 2005/06, explained that 90% of the inmates are vulnerable and can not affordm the bail fees.
“I was in prison recently and I know what these poor prisoners go through. It is not because they want to stay there but because many of them have no lawyers and nobody cares whether they get bail or not,†Reagan Okumu (Aswa) told journalists after the meeting.
The committee also put the Judiciary officials to task to explain why the bail fee is never returned to the former suspects in time after they are cleared of the offences.
The Judiciary secretary, Ralph Ochan, said ever since the rules were amended in 2004, courts are not supposed to receive bail fees.
“All bail fees are supposed to be paid to URA. However, there is a proposal to station a URA official at the courts to receive bail fees during court sessions so that suspects are not taken back to prison because the banks are closed,†he said.
MANY inmates prefer staying in jail to being bailed, MPs heard yesterday.
“Some of these prisoners do not want to get out of prison because they think that if they wait a bit longer, they will find their witnesses either dead or have lost interest in the case,†the High Court Registrar, Flavia Anglin, told the Public Accounts Committee. The MPs had demanded an explanation why court grants bail to prominent individuals and leaves out others.
“Where is the justice you practise? What criteria do you use to grant bail? You grant bail to prominent individuals like Jim Muhwezi, Michael Mukula and others and leave those who went there (prison) first?†Nandala Mafabi (Budadiri) asked.
The former health ministers, Muhwezi and Mukula, are facing charges of embezzlement and were released on bail recently.
Anglin, who was among the Judiciary officials who appeared before the committee to answer queries which were raised by the Auditor General in the financial year 2005/06, explained that 90% of the inmates are vulnerable and can not affordm the bail fees.
“I was in prison recently and I know what these poor prisoners go through. It is not because they want to stay there but because many of them have no lawyers and nobody cares whether they get bail or not,†Reagan Okumu (Aswa) told journalists after the meeting.
The committee also put the Judiciary officials to task to explain why the bail fee is never returned to the former suspects in time after they are cleared of the offences.
The Judiciary secretary, Ralph Ochan, said ever since the rules were amended in 2004, courts are not supposed to receive bail fees.
“All bail fees are supposed to be paid to URA. However, there is a proposal to station a URA official at the courts to receive bail fees during court sessions so that suspects are not taken back to prison because the banks are closed,†he said.