Uganda Prison Authorities Call for Construction Of 16 New Facilities To Alleviate Overcrowding

The Uganda Prisons Services has suggested building 16 new regional mini-maximum prisons, modeled after Kitalya Prison, to alleviate overcrowding issues. Some facilities currently house inmate populations that exceed their designed capacity by five times.

The revelation was made by Elly Muhumuza, Commissioner Planning & Development, Uganda Prisons who informed Parliament’s Internal Affairs Committee, that whereas Uganda’s population is growing at a rate of  3 percent, the population in prisons is growing at 8 percent.

He said that this growth in the number of inmates with no significant increase in the budget has impacted on feeding, housing, sanitation, utilities like water, Medicare, uniforms and delivery of inmates to courts of law.

Each mini-max prison costs around UGX 102.9Bn, while three lower security prisons require UGX 24Bn. Some prisons are accommodating 5 times above the designed capacities. To solve that, we need to adopt the Kitalya model, our plan is to construct at least one prison that accommodates at least 4000 prisoners in each region and we have 16 prison regions, said Muhumuza.

The officials of Uganda Prisons Service who were appearing to update Parliament on the 2022/23 financial and physical performance, informed MPs that the current prisons holding capacity is 20,996, which is an increase of 960 inmates since January 2023 when new wards were launched in Lira, Kiruhura, Ntungamo, Rukungiri and Kamuli prions.

The current capacity of 20,996 inmates is against the 76,467 inmates being held in all prisons across the country by 3rd December 2023, meaning there the current congestion levels stand at 55,471 inmates.

During the meeting, the Prison management also revealed that they are grappling with feeding the already bloated Prisons, with documents submitted before the Committee indicating that the Prisons Service is choking on Food arrears amounting to UGX 79.94bn which has accumulated since last financial year 2022/2023. 

According to Uganda Prisons Service, the daily feeding average cost is UGX 5000 per prisoner. Although the Prison Service submitted a supplementary request to a tune of UGX 158.943Bn, only UGX 79Bn was recently approved by Parliament, meaning they will be operating with a shortfall of UGX 79.943Bn.

However, a section of lawmakers including Alex Niyonsaba, Bufumbira South and Ibanda Rwemulikya, Ntoroko County urged the Government to consider the proposal to release all political prisoners as a measure of reducing congestion in prison facilities.

 Muhumuza also noted that in a bid to address the human rights concerns within the prison facilities, prisoners are entitled to beddings including a pair of blankets and a felt mattress. 

Other budget shortfalls

In 2023/24 financial year, Uganda Prison Service requested for UGX 8.574Bn to procure blankets but only UGX 1b was appropriated leaving a shortfall of UGX 7.574Bn. Additionally, the prisoners’ mattresses budget of UGX 8.574 Bn remains an unfunded priority.

Whereas each prisons staff is entitled to at least two pairs of uniforms with accessories and protective gears, currently, each has only one pair without any protective gear. This item requires UGX 5.702Bn but only UGX 3.330Bn was availed, leaving a funding gap of UGX 2.372Bn.

In the 2022/2023 financial year, Uganda Prisons Service was allocated UGX 340.060Bn, of which, UGX 335.376Bn was released with UGX 97.919Bn of it being spent on wages, UGX 186.107Bn was spent on non-wage items, while UGX 26.371Bn was spent on development.

The Prisons authorities also spent UGX22.985Bn on clearing arrears and UGX 3.821Bn was spent on access to justice.