DOC/OS(XXXIII)/324c/II
(a)
any labour required in consequence of the sentence or order of a court
any labour required of any person while lawfully detained which, though not required
(b)
in consequence of the sentence or order of a court, is reasonably necessary in the interest of
hygiene or for the maintenance of the place at which the person is detained;
The Special Rapporteur is concerned that in many places which she visited with her
delegation, she saw prisoners being clearly overworked and not receiving good treatment —
in terms of feeding, hygiene and living conditions compatible with the requirements of their
work. There are many reports of prisoners being beaten during their working hours. The
situation in Mpigi and Kasese local prisons was of particular concern: prisoners were
exhausted, were not provided with enough food, slept badly because they were overworked
— in brief, they were treated like slaves.
Moreover, working for private interests clearly does not fall under the provisions of the
abovementioned article of the Constitution, and therefore breaches the Constitution.
Medical care
The medical departments visited, both in prisons and in police stations lacked sufficient
supply of drugs. Furthermore, the fact that only a small number of different drugs are
supplied means that there are many current pathologies that cannot be treated in spite of the
fact that the large prisons have qualified staff for such treatment.
Nearly all the medical services of prisons, and to a certain extent of the police, lack qualified
medical staff. This fact, which is more widespread inland, explains why health centres in
prisons and/or police stations situated at the administrative centres of the regions are mostly
managed by nurses or even simply health assistants.
The insufficient infrastructures, the severe overcrowding which affects places of detention
and the lack of resources hampers the smooth delivery of medical care. The administrative
organisation of medical care within UPS further contributes to an ineffective spending of
meagre resources.
Double management of prisons
The current organisation of prisons in Uganda, by which the central government controls a
number of prisons, and local governments control a others, creates discrepancies between
prisons in terms of treatment and rights granted to prisoners. The numerous local
government lock-ups and prisons do not receive the necessary allocations in terms of
resources, and conditions therein are usually far behind requirements — and breach
Uganda's own internal legal and Constitutional provisions.
Ensuring the uniformed treatment of all offenders according to their status and category is a
duty of the government.
Good practices
1. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the new policies and measures which are being
devised and implemented by the government to improve conditions and trust they will
help put right some of the concerns mentioned. Several measures have been taken
to reduce pre-trial and remand detention. Efforts are undertaken to build up capacity
of courts, to increase the number of judges, to develop backlog reduction programme,
etc. Interesting pilots are conducted to improve speed of trials: e.g. day to day trials in
Masaka whereby trial and sentence take place the same day, for petty offences or the
Chain Link project in the same region, which aims at improving communications
between agencies, hence speeding up the judicial process. Alternatives to
imprisonment, such as Community service are used. The creation of the Director
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