Inmates in Uganda’s overcrowded prisons face forced labour and receive harsh punishments if they don’t work hard enough, says the organization Human Rights Watch. The chief of Uganda’s prison service calls the report ‘unbalanced.’

By Arne Doornebal

‘Even dead bodies must work,’ is the title of Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) report on the fate of Uganda’s prisoners. It quotes inmates who say they have been beaten, stoned or burned but were later denied access to medical care.

The prisoners are not able to get antiretroviral drugs while the rate of tuberculosis infection among them is three times higher than among the Ugandans not living in captivity.

“Anyone who commits a crime should be held to account,” says Katherine Todrys of HRW. “But no one should be sentenced to malnutrition, disease, and beatings.”

Prison’s boss responds
“If in remote villages a person is caught stealing a chicken, the villagers might beat him to death,” says Johnson Byabashaija, who is in charge of Uganda’s prisons.

“So it is extremely hard for us to educate all our staff in the rural areas about human rights and the evil of beating inmates.” That doesn’t mean Byabashaija will let his staff members get away with violence.

“I don’t like violent behaviour at all. Every staff member who beats a prisoner will get a punishment if I find out. In fact, at least four of them have already turned from a warden to an inmate.” Byabashaija denies that prisoners face hard labour. “They cultivate crops, like most other Ugandans. Is that now hard labour? And normally they get paid for it.”

Overcrowding
Over half of the prisoners are still awaiting trial, is another complaint from the report. “That is true,” says the prison boss. “That is why we have built new prisons, like the one in Moroto that was constructed with Dutch financial assistance.” Paul Gadenya of Uganda’s Justice Ministry also disagrees with the HRW report.

“Indeed, more than half of the prisoners are awaiting trial, but a few years ago that figure stood at 70 percent,” he says. “We have already reduced our backlog, but we still don’t have enough judges and magistrates.”

According to Gadenya’s statistics Uganda has 30,000 prisoners, while the Human Rights Watch report mentions a far higher figure of 50,000.

Dutchman tries to help
“I couldn’t believe my ears when I read this report,” says Dutchman Victor Wildeman. He founded an NGO which aims to improve the lives of prisoners, called Second Chance Support.

“I don’t recognize the negative picture HRW paints in this report,” says Wildeman. “Prisoners in Kigo are not forced to work and are not mistreated at all.” Wildeman’s foundation, which receives funds from Dutch well-wishers, has repaired the leaking roof of Kigo and has been setting up a workplace for detainees.

However, according to HRW officials, Kigo near the capital of Kampala, is one of the best prisons in the country. Ugandans locked away in remote prisons are having a much rougher time in jail they say.