Luzira inmate shot in foiled escape, now nursing wound

Jul 10, 2012

A Luzira inmate is nursing a bullet wound after he was stopped short in an attempted escape from court

By Petride Mudoola

A Luzira Prisons inmate is nursing bullet wounds at Mulago Hospital after he was shot in a futile escape attempt from court on Monday.

Bernard Bwiire, on remand for assaulting a woman in a bar in Nakawa recently, tried to flee custody when he appeared at Luzira Magistrates Court for his bail application.

He has been on remand for a fortnight after he failed to produce sureties.

By July 6, he had secured only one of the two sureties required.

When the presiding magistrate denied Bwiire bail for the second time for lack of substantial sureties, Bwiire decided to take off but was stopped by a prison warden’s bullet in the right leg.

When asked why he attempted to escape, Bwiire said he wanted to escape in order to take care of his eight-months pregnant wife and his two-year-old baby girl.

The Prison Act provides for use of a gun to apprehend a prisoner trying to escape.

The prison spokesman, Frank Baine, said: “The prison warder responsible for injuring Bwiire has no case to answer since he was in the line of duty. He fired at the suspect so as to stop him from escaping.”

In the last five months, three people have escaped from Luzira Magistrate Court. Due to congestion in the locality, prisoners take advantage of the heavily populated area to escape from court, according to Baine.

According to the Penal Code, a prisoner who attempts to escape from custody is expected to serve a sentence ranging from six months to two years in addition to his previous punishment.

As a result, Bwiire will be charged for attempt to escape from custody upon his recovery, Baine said.

According to research carried out by the Prison department, the West Nile region has the highest tendency of escapism countrywide.

Over 100 inmates escape from incarceration units in West Nile region annually.

“West Nile region has a high tendency of escapees due to lack of a maximum security prison yet majority of the convicts accommodated within the detention centres were ex-soldiers. Having undergone training while in service they take advantage of their skills to escape,” Baine said.

Last year, five inmates escaped from Yumbe Prison while in the garden, but were re-arrested.

The escape from Yumbe was followed by a similar one in Moyo where seven inmates escaped without trace.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});