A tough life in prison

 

At Uganda’ biggest prison farm in Ruimi, Fort Portal, patches of tarmac give way to a stone road leading through a wetland. At the end is a concrete wall and a giant, steel grey gate. It is, indeed, a fortress from which escape attempts are futile, with the surrounding lake and wetland. 

 

The dead silence is interrupted by the humming of fishing birds in the wetland. It is a little creepy. The clanging sound of the gate opening intensifies the eerie feeling.

 

I am here to see just how bad life behind prison bars is. 

 

John (not real name), says he has been here for 20 years. He describes a nook of rusted iron sheet walls and roof as his habitation, which gets freezing cold in the night and scorching hot during the day. His small one-inch mattress is not comfortable. 

 

“The prison is congested and sometimes we sleep in turns. The best option is to avoid prison. One would not wish to be part of the suffering,” John laments. 

 

At night, even the corridors are occupied by inmates, along with the occasional rat and cockroach scampering about. There are also blackouts that make accidents inevitable — it is easy to get stepped on as an inmate makes his way to the washrooms. John says on top of the inadequate space, the toilet facilities are appalling. 

 

A former convict of Mobuku Prisons in Kasese, Patrick Byaruhanga, served a 12-year jail term.

He gives a chilling flashback: “We used to sleep on bare cement and got exposed to insect bites.

 

Without a blanket, it is like being locked up in a refrigerator. That is how we were exposed to diseases and infections such as tuberculosis (TB), scabies, and ring worms,” the 30-year-old says.

 

Prisons authorities are in a bind. As much as they are confining criminals, these prisoners’ human rights must not be violated. However, appalling living conditions in the prisons across the country are making this difficult. Most detention facilities were built before independence. 

 

The commissioner general of Prisons, Johnson Byabashaija, says they need sh120b for a comprehensive prisons renovation exercise over the next five years. 

 

 “The ambitious project lacks funding. The prisons authorities were challenged to use the public-private partnership, but the idea is not tenable because of lack of a channel for the partner to recover the costs incurred,” says a visibly disturbed Byabashaija.

 

The Government recently constructed eight prisons in Moroto, Gulu, Adjumani, Nakasongola, Ibuga, Kapchorwa, Bushenyi and Oyam.

 

According to statistics from the prison’s medical service, TB prevalence stands at 10%. The national prevalence rate is 6.4%. The biggest cause is congestion. 

 

Byabashaija says: “The units are overwhelmed by 36,000 inmates being accommodated in the 224 units countrywide. They were initially built to accommodate 15,000 prisoners. It is the criminal justice systems to blame for the congestion because cases are not disposed of in time.”

 

The criminal justice systems include the Uganda Police Force, the Judiciary and Uganda Prisons Services.

Breaking down the figures, Byabashaija notes that 57% of the total number of inmates are on remand; only 43% of the convicts are jailed.

 

This implies prisons accommodate 15,865 convicts, 19,305 on remand, 152 debtors and 167 juveniles.

Byabashaija says the increasing number of convicts serving long sentences is another challenge. Luzira’s Maximum Security Prison was designed to accommodate only 600 inmates. However, it currently accommodates over 3,000.

 

Of these 1,266 are serving long sentences, with 407 on death row, while 242 convicts are serving life imprisonment. 

 

Byabashaija appeals to the agencies that deliver justice to harmonise their activities so that there is faster dispensation of justice. This will help to reduce the increasing number of prisoners, hence minimise congestion.

 

 

Security compromised

The dilapidated structures are a security risk. Prisoners take advantage of the weak buildings to break out. Over 100 inmates escape from incarceration units in West Nile region annually, according to Frank Baine, the prison authority’s publicist. 

 

“West Nile region has a high tendency of escapees due to lack of a maximum security prison. Most of the convicts accommodated are ex-soldiers who take advantage of their skills to break out of jail,” Baine explains. 

 

 

The United Nations Human Rights Convention states that no matter the gravity of the offence one commits, every inmate is entitled to their basic human rights — good accommodation, food, healthcare and a hygienic residence.

 

The UN standards recommend 3.6 square metres per prisoner, however, in Uganda it is 1.5 square metres per prisoner.