DOC/OS(XXXIII)/324c/II Torture and ill-treatment Various structural factors in crease the risk of torture or ill-treatments. The "ward-leaders" organisation contributes to numerous abuses. People who have not been trained to be warders and who are prisoners themselves are given power over fellow prisoners. The very low degree of awareness of the prison population as a whole, including ward leaders aggravates the situation. The insufficient training of staff on Human Rights is also of concern. The dual prison system hampers harmonised initiatives to prevent torture and ill-treatments and leaves up-country and isolated local prisons without much control. Officers in Charge usually agree that prisoners are not supposed to be tortured, but acknowledge that some officers may do so. The Officer in charge at Kampala central police station said he tried very much to resist such practices "but human beings are human beings". Several prisoners complained of having been tortured by the police to extort false confession (Kakiika prisoners reports concerned Mbarara police station; Masaka). Torture consisted in beatings (Mbarara) or having to urinate on water connected to electric wires (Kampala central police station). A prisoner who had escaped Mbale prison on 9 December 2001 was allegedly shot after his arrest. Corporal punishment is provided for in prison rules, with some restrictions (see enforcement of prison rules section). Breaches of prison rules can result in being beaten with batons. However, the practice often exceeds legal provisions: according to prisoners in Kakiika, one of them who had been caught after an escape died at the hospital on 16 th October 2001. Juveniles in Naggulu remand home are also punished with caning when they breach the Centres' rules. Prisoners in Tororo prison farm, including women, also said beating occurred, in particular when capital offenders were concerned. Caning is frequently meted by fellow prisoners appointed as leaders, which also contradicts the rule. Women in Masaka and Luzira women prison also reported beatings, intimidations and language abuses. Cases of women being striped naked in Luzira Women Prison were reported by the victims to the delegation (see also Women section). Other types of degrading treatment also occur. For example, newcomers in Kampala central police station are made to wash toilets with bare hands. Collective punishment such as was meted on women in Masindi and which afflicted also the baby of a detained mother clearly breach rules and standards and are unacceptable. Overstaying on death row amounts to psychological torture, especially when prisoners are submitted to overcrowding and poor conditions of detention. A detention of 23 years on death row, as the Special Rapporteur witnessed in Luzira maximum security prison, clearly amount to psychological torture and inhumane treatment. Vulnerable groups Death row prisoners Death sentences can be meted by military courts or civil courts. There is no appeal for military sentence. By law, legal representation is compulsory for capital and life offences (Constitution art. 28 (2) (e)). The State hence must provide lawyer for the accused, which can prove difficult in some remote areas and causes lots of delays. Sentenced capital offenders from all over the country are transferred to Luzira maximum security prison, in Kampala — However, 54 capital offenders had been transferred from Upper prison to Luzira remand prison due to congestion and were kept in disciplinary cells. 281 prisoners were on death row in Luzira Upper, the longest time spent on death row was 23 years. One was arrested when 16 years old and had spent 10 years in prison. There are amnesties periodically, but they do not apply to all categories (the last amnesty was in October 2000 but applied — according to prisoners interviewed — only to treason cases resulting in violence). Before the execution (hanging) is carried out, the Supreme court must confirm the sentence, which aggravates overstaying. 13