ULS partners with UN to decongest Uganda prisons

The judiciary, Uganda Prisons Service and office of the Director of Public Prosecutions have welcomed a new project that is intended to fast-track the hearing of cases and lead to decongesting of detention facilities.

The ‘Prisons Decongestion and Access to Justice project’, a partnership by Uganda Law Society and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), targets to improve prisons conditions, reduce cases backlog and increase awareness by inmates of their legal options so as to access justice.

Justice Jane Frances Abodo Director Public Prosecution (DPP) said the choice to arraign every suspect in court is partly contributing to the congestion in the prisons.

“Prison congestion and the innocently accused is what gives sleepless nights. And I tell my prosecutors that the decision to charge should be taken cautiously, intelligently and with a human face, because it’s what makes us gatekeepers of justice,” Justice Abodo said.

Justice Musa Sekaana, head of the Civil Division of the High Court who presided over the launch of the project, said that the judiciary is implementing several reforms that are intended to address cases backlog.

He listed them as plea-bargaining for suspects, hearing of criminal cases on a daily basis as opposed to sessions and recruitment of more judicial officers so that each district has a Chief Magistrate and a Magistrate at every sub-county.

Uganda Law Society (ULS) president, Ms Pheona Nabasa said the prison's population of 68,793 is unsustainable. She said 40 percent of inmates have been on remand for longer periods than the term they should have served for the offences they have been accused of.

“I don’t know how much that will cost the government in reparations but we are going to work with the Director of Public Prosecutions with this support from UNODC to clear these cases from the system,” Ms Nabasa said.

She said it was not fair for Uganda to spend over Shs2 million on each prisoner per year when the average Ugandan does not earn that much in a year.  

“We also need to understand that prison capacity right now is at over 300 percent which means that 44,000 prisoners should not be in there,” she said.

However, Frank Baine, spokesperson, Uganda Prisons service in a phone interview with Daily Monitor said that the government spends Shs22, 000 per day on each prisoner, totaling to eight million shilling per year.

“The Shs22, 000 includes food, transport, treatment and among other services” Braine said

On his part, UNODC’s Regional Representative for Eastern Africa, Mr Neil Walsh observed that although the public always wants offenders to be locked up, jailing petty offenders increases the risks of them getting radicalized, which in turn could have a far reaching negative impact on children and the nation.

He said the right to a speedy trial and delivery of judgment is one of the major facets of the general right to a fair hearing.

“Access to legal aid is essential to guaranteeing equal access to justice for all, and an important safeguard that ensures fairness and public trust in the criminal justice process,” Mr. Neil noted.

Many Ugandans, including prisoners, are not able to fully access justice. This is mainly due to poverty, the high cost of legal representation, and lack of basic knowledge of court procedures as well as limited access to free legal services.

He said UNODC is supporting the project to enable marginalized people to have equal access to the legal system, “not only for protecting their human rights but also for maintaining the quality of justice available to everyone in Uganda.”

He said targeted interventions, including provision of legal aid and popularizing access to justice processes, will deepen access to justice in Uganda.

“The project should enable courts to effectively administer justice and enhance redress mechanisms while also strengthening correctional services for prisoners,” Mr. Neil said.

According to Uganda Prisons Service (UPS) Acting Director for Rehabilitation and Reintegration, Mr Tiyo Milton, currently there are 68,000 prisoners against a capacity of 19,000 inmates, all accommodated in 259 prisons all over the country.

He said out of the 68,793 prisoners, 33,457are convicts and the rest on remand. Of the convicts, 1,400 are female convicts and also make up 1600 of those on remand.

 “We have 15,900 petty offenders. To be sincere these are petty offenders or at least they are not supposed to be in a prisoner facility,” Commissioner Tiyo pointed out.

“The longest serving convict is former Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel, Thomas Kwoyelo who he said has served his sentence for now 12 years and six months.