History will judge Judiciary harshly
Nov 14, 2005
STATISTICS about Uganda’s prisons are quite alarming. As of March 2005, Uganda’s prisons had 20,000 inmates, 71 percent of whom are capital offenders. There were over 9,000 inmates (47.3%) on remand for defilement, 6,000 (30.9%) on remand for murder and 1,000 (5%) on remand for robbery.
BY George Alenyo
STATISTICS about Uganda’s prisons are quite alarming. As of March 2005, Uganda’s prisons had 20,000 inmates, 71 percent of whom are capital offenders. There were over 9,000 inmates (47.3%) on remand for defilement, 6,000 (30.9%) on remand for murder and 1,000 (5%) on remand for robbery.
In legal sense the word “remand†means that all these thousands of people (14,200) are in prison not as confirmed criminals but as
suspects.
In lay man’s language these people are innocent until the day the court sits and listens to evidence against them and declares them convicts, that is, criminals.
The real crisis about the situation in our prisons is that nearly three-quarters of the inmates have waited to be tried for over four years. I spoke to three people who have been in prison and have not been tried since 1999 and two others since 2000. Therefore, something is wrong with our judicial system.
We cannot deceive ourselves that the system is perfect, that there is nothing wrong and that there is no need for change when people are spending so long before trial. I witnessed 120 prisoners crowded and congested in a 10-metre by 15-metre cell as if in a Nazi concentration camp.
In future when the judicial history of this country is written, scholars and all Ugandans will condemn the Judiciary because of the way it was managed during the period when thousands spent years on remand without trial not withstanding constitutional guarantees and legal provisions for a speedy trial (Article 28 of the Constitution).
For these Ugandans who have spent years without being tried, it means loss of jobs, loss of marriage, loss of careers and loss of life (I know of 54 Ugandans who have died in prison while awaiting trial).
This crisis cannot be solely blamed on the judiciary management, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) or the ministry of finance. It has been accumulating over a long period due to:
lLack of funds to the police for quick, complete and robust investigations.
lLack of funds for criminal sessions and other failures which cannot be put on paper.
The way forward therefore is that the Chief Justice, the Principal Judge, the DPP, the Uganda Law Society and the state as a whole need to find an urgent administrative way around the problem.
All Ugandans whom the court system has failed to try for over a year whether for lack of evidence or for lack of funds for court sessions must be released under an administrative judicial arrangement. Otherwise given the insufficient number of judges, the financial constraint in the government, the sheer judicial back log and the current pattern of work, many of the 20,000 people will die before their cases are heard. This means they will die and be buried as suspects, and to some as criminals, because they will not have had the opportunity to clear their names in court.
In Murchison Bay prison referral hospital, the average death rate for the remand prisoners is three per month.
We members of the Judiciary unfortunately tend to imagine that national crisis is always political. We can also have a judicial crisis like now.
Because whether we want to admit it or not 14,000 people being kept for years without trial is purely and simply a crisis and a deep personal loss and tragedy for these suspects of treason, defilement, murder and rape.
If we have evidence against these people let’s bring the evidence. Fortunately, we have able leadership of the Chief Justice, Principal Judge, the Chief Registrar and the DPP. Therefore, what is left is the step and courage towards a massive administrative release of inmates on statutory bond without undue regard to judicial procedure, legal technicalities and conditionalities (Article 126 of the Constitution).
Already the Judiciary has this year put in place a remarkable effort on increasing criminal sessions. If everything legal and administrative is done, the genuine prison population can be 9,000.
In the meantime, to avoid further congestion, community service ought to be fully and completely implemented. The prison department cannot, while complaining of congestion, leave its doors open to all manner of detention of petty offenders such as minor traffic offenders and idlers.
The prison department exceeded its 6,000 capacity long ago. Exceeding this capacity by more than three times (by 14,000) is a crime against humanity. The living and sleeping conditions in our prisons are not those meant for humanity.
The minister of finance ought to study the financial implications of imposing an idler to months in prison where he spends sh3,800 on him daily. By the time a prisoner is found innocent after four years’ waiting in prison, the government shall have spent sh5.5m. Keeping 14,200 prisoners on remand costs government nearly sh66m daily in all prisons in Uganda. This comes to sh24b annually.
In the end, nearly a quarter of the inmates are released and found innocent. The issue of congestion in prisons is therefore a humanitarian, legal, judicial, social and financial crisis within our judicial system. Judicial officials should not feel responsible or blamed. They should not consider people raising these issues as people attacking their performance or imputing inefficiency.
STATISTICS about Uganda’s prisons are quite alarming. As of March 2005, Uganda’s prisons had 20,000 inmates, 71 percent of whom are capital offenders. There were over 9,000 inmates (47.3%) on remand for defilement, 6,000 (30.9%) on remand for murder and 1,000 (5%) on remand for robbery.
In legal sense the word “remand†means that all these thousands of people (14,200) are in prison not as confirmed criminals but as
suspects.
In lay man’s language these people are innocent until the day the court sits and listens to evidence against them and declares them convicts, that is, criminals.
The real crisis about the situation in our prisons is that nearly three-quarters of the inmates have waited to be tried for over four years. I spoke to three people who have been in prison and have not been tried since 1999 and two others since 2000. Therefore, something is wrong with our judicial system.
We cannot deceive ourselves that the system is perfect, that there is nothing wrong and that there is no need for change when people are spending so long before trial. I witnessed 120 prisoners crowded and congested in a 10-metre by 15-metre cell as if in a Nazi concentration camp.
In future when the judicial history of this country is written, scholars and all Ugandans will condemn the Judiciary because of the way it was managed during the period when thousands spent years on remand without trial not withstanding constitutional guarantees and legal provisions for a speedy trial (Article 28 of the Constitution).
For these Ugandans who have spent years without being tried, it means loss of jobs, loss of marriage, loss of careers and loss of life (I know of 54 Ugandans who have died in prison while awaiting trial).
This crisis cannot be solely blamed on the judiciary management, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) or the ministry of finance. It has been accumulating over a long period due to:
lLack of funds to the police for quick, complete and robust investigations.
lLack of funds for criminal sessions and other failures which cannot be put on paper.
The way forward therefore is that the Chief Justice, the Principal Judge, the DPP, the Uganda Law Society and the state as a whole need to find an urgent administrative way around the problem.
All Ugandans whom the court system has failed to try for over a year whether for lack of evidence or for lack of funds for court sessions must be released under an administrative judicial arrangement. Otherwise given the insufficient number of judges, the financial constraint in the government, the sheer judicial back log and the current pattern of work, many of the 20,000 people will die before their cases are heard. This means they will die and be buried as suspects, and to some as criminals, because they will not have had the opportunity to clear their names in court.
In Murchison Bay prison referral hospital, the average death rate for the remand prisoners is three per month.
We members of the Judiciary unfortunately tend to imagine that national crisis is always political. We can also have a judicial crisis like now.
Because whether we want to admit it or not 14,000 people being kept for years without trial is purely and simply a crisis and a deep personal loss and tragedy for these suspects of treason, defilement, murder and rape.
If we have evidence against these people let’s bring the evidence. Fortunately, we have able leadership of the Chief Justice, Principal Judge, the Chief Registrar and the DPP. Therefore, what is left is the step and courage towards a massive administrative release of inmates on statutory bond without undue regard to judicial procedure, legal technicalities and conditionalities (Article 126 of the Constitution).
Already the Judiciary has this year put in place a remarkable effort on increasing criminal sessions. If everything legal and administrative is done, the genuine prison population can be 9,000.
In the meantime, to avoid further congestion, community service ought to be fully and completely implemented. The prison department cannot, while complaining of congestion, leave its doors open to all manner of detention of petty offenders such as minor traffic offenders and idlers.
The prison department exceeded its 6,000 capacity long ago. Exceeding this capacity by more than three times (by 14,000) is a crime against humanity. The living and sleeping conditions in our prisons are not those meant for humanity.
The minister of finance ought to study the financial implications of imposing an idler to months in prison where he spends sh3,800 on him daily. By the time a prisoner is found innocent after four years’ waiting in prison, the government shall have spent sh5.5m. Keeping 14,200 prisoners on remand costs government nearly sh66m daily in all prisons in Uganda. This comes to sh24b annually.
In the end, nearly a quarter of the inmates are released and found innocent. The issue of congestion in prisons is therefore a humanitarian, legal, judicial, social and financial crisis within our judicial system. Judicial officials should not feel responsible or blamed. They should not consider people raising these issues as people attacking their performance or imputing inefficiency.