Marriages crumble as prisoners lure women with food

Local and religious leaders have expressed concern over the rate at which inmates working at Morukatipe Prison Farm in Tororo district are eloping with other men's wives within the communities surrounding the farm.

A number of women are reported to have abandoned their homes and shacked up with the inmates when they complete their sentences, whereas others have had children with the inmates.

The inmates are said to be taking advantage of biting poverty levels in the communities around the prison farm to seduce the women with food that they sneak out from the prison.

Benjamin Otwani a catechist at St Jude Catholic Church, Malaba made the revelation in his sermon during the burial ceremony of Gertrude Ino in Nyalakot Village in Osukuru sub-county on Wednesday.  

Otwani appealed to married couples to remain faithful to one another no matter the situations they are going through. He cautioned men to desist from over drinking and running away from their responsibilities, something he said leaves women vulnerable.

"I hear that when some of the men get some money, they prefer to go out with side dishes [mistresses] leaving their wives at the hands of inmates who take full responsibility," Otwani said.

New Vision has learnt that a number of inmates who are about to finish their sentences roam in the surrounding communities selling foodstuffs grown on the unfenced prison farm while women also collect water from the some of the wells on the prison farm while others grind their produce at the farm, making contact between the two parties easy.

In Nyalakot village alone, it is reported that over five women have so far eloped with the inmates, leaving behind their children behind in the hands of their husbands.

The Nyalakot LC1 chairman, Gerald Okapesi, acknowledged the trend, saying it has led to increased cases of domestic violence in most of the homesteads.

The prison farm is surrounded by over five villages in the two sub-counties of Mella and Osukuru in Tororo County South.

The area Member of Parliament, Fredrick Angura, who was in attendance at the ceremony condemned the act while calling upon men to take charge of their families.

He also cautioned men to desist from promiscuity saying the practice may lead to increased spread of the deadly HIV/AIDS scourge.