Prisons struggle to hold 3,000 inmates

 Inmates at Katojo Prison in Fort Portal attend a workshop organised by the Justice Law and Order Sector on the rights of inmates in 2011. Many of the structures in the 12 prisons of western Uganda have been condemned.

In Summary

In our series on prisons in the country, we look at the jails in western Uganda. The 12 prisons, accommodating about 3,000 inmates, have many structures that have been condemned. The inmates practise agriculture on the fertile land owned by the Prisons, and supply food to other units countrywide.

KABAROLE

All the 12 government prisons in the western region are housed in dilapidated and condemned structures, this newspaper’s survey has revealed.

During an interview with the Uganda Prison Service (UPS) regional prisons commander (RPC) for western region, Mr Allan Okello, said many of their structures are very small and old. “These were prisons originally with the central government and or local governments, the structures are not very strong and are small, and as such some staff stay (rent) outside the prisons,” said Mr Okello at the regional headquarters in Fort Portal.

He said some of the prisons were established in the 1950s, like Katojo in Fort Portal which is the oldest.
“Most of the structures are condemned, some of the staff come from their own private homes due to poor and lack of enough accommodation, some structures of Rwimi Prison and Katojo are weak, they were affected by the 1994 earth quake,” said the RPC.

Fertile land
With about 3,000 prisoners in the 12 prison facilities, UPS owns prime fertile land in the Western Rift Valley basin, where they have established three prison farms at Ibuga, Rwimi and Mubuku. The farms not only offering agricultural skills to the inmates, but also produce food that is distributed across other units around the country.

Katojo Prison in Fort Portal was constructed in 1957, and since then, no renovations has been made except on the female wing which recently got a facelift with support from the Swedish government. Katojo, Mubuku, Rwimi and Ibuga are the major prisons in the western region; others were inherited from the local governments.

Despite the weak and old structures, no prison breaks have ever been reported, according to Mr Okello. At Katojo, prisoners have blankets, mattresses and available space is only 105sqm which is enough for 293 prisoners at a standard space of 3.6 square meters per person. “Inmates sleep on blankets and mats, but those who can afford mattresses are allowed to bring in,” Mr Okello said.

Location
Other than the prison farms, prisons were established near administrative units and courts since they offer intertwined services to the public. “They are linked to administrative and justice and the population, but for farms, that is our initiative, we look for fertile lands,” said Mr Okello. Most of the prisons are accessible to the courts by walking, those that are far, the Prison has three lorries, purposely for transporting suspects to courts.

“We have services of a lorry at Butiiti, Bundibugyo, Mubuku and Katojo strictly for court purposes,” the RPC said, adding that the location of some prisons also depended on population density.
Katojo Prison in Fort Portal is 5km to court, Butiiti in Kyenjojo Town 20km, and Bubukwanga 20km to Bundibugyo Town.

Asked about plans they have for the old structures in western region, the spokesperson for the Uganda Prisons Service, Mr Frank Mbaine said: “Our capital development is moving on a slow pace due to limited funds, but we are soon going to renovate and expand Katojo in Fort Portal and Bwera in Kasese, we have damaged wards at Rwimi and Ibuga but we are yet to get funds.”

Experiences of former prisoners
Mr Bon-Bon Kasaija, a resident of Njara, East division, Fort Portal. I was in Katojo Prison from 2010 to 2011. Health at Katojo was 99 per cent good. Prisoners were well catered for. Every three months, they could carry general checkups for Sexually Transmitted Diseases, HIV/Aids and Tuberculosis.

Doctors and nurses could keep on checking on the sick at night. Accommodation was okay, every prisoner, even if he or she was new or old, could get 2 blankets with a mattress and we were allowed to get blankets from home and beddings, our rooms, bathrooms and latrine were always clean. We used to eat grade number 2 of posho, which was best for our body building, and fried beans. Our prison wardens never mistreated us.

Mr Patrick Byamaana, 52, from Byakalimira village, Ndogo Sub-county in Kabale District.
I was at Katojo Prison since 1994, but I was later transferred to Ibuga. We used to sleep on bare cement and insects could bite us and we had no blankets to cover ourselves.
Feeding was bad, we used to take half cups of porridge for breakfast and eat one sweet potato a day. Some prison wardens used to sell our sugar and posho.
When our relatives could come to check on us and leave behind some money with us, prison wardens could come ask for the money and take it away forcefully and they could beat us.