Even Dead Bodies Must Work - Office of the High Commissioner for ...

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to Kampala for distribution to prisons nationwide. However, sometimes prison officers keep behind a portion of it to meet prison operating expenses. One OC said: We declare estimates to Kampala [UPS headquarters]. If we expected 100 bags [of produce], we declare 80. You can’t complain to the boss all the time, or else he will call you a failure. You have to take your initiative. The resources we get from the central government are small, minute. Maybe the government should inject in more funds. The 20 bags sold off don’t make it into the books. The auditors don’t understand. 138 Second, prisoners are contracted out to private farms at rates ranging from 2,500 to 3,500 Uganda shillings (roughly $1.00 to $1.50) per head per day, significantly lower than what free workers would earn, approximately 7,000 to 10,000 Uganda shillings ($3.00 to $4.25) a day. 139 Private farmers hire prisoners to work on their own land and pay the prison OC directly for the labor. Prison staff takes bookings for prison labor by phone or in person, and payment must be made in advance. 140 Injuries sustained by prisoners while working on private land are the responsibility of the prison and not the private farmer. 141 Private farmers must pay for transportation of the prisoners and may rent additional equipment such as hoes from the prison. They are responsible for providing some food for the prisoners and may also pay the accompanying wardens tips ranging from 5,000 to 15,000 Uganda shillings ($2.00 to $6.25) per day per warden to ensure that prisoners’ productivity is high. 142 According to prison authorities, hiring labor out to private landowners can be done by the OC “for improvement of administration of his Prison.” It “can only be done as a form of employment in which the inmates will have to earn a statutory fee.” 143 Only prisoners who escaped from the “M/Shamba,” indicating the “main” government-owned field, in 2010. Letter from prison authorities to Human Rights Watch, June 29, 2011. 138 Human Rights Watch interview with OC, Muinaina Prison, March 4, 2011. 139 Human Rights Watch interviews with farmers, near Sentema and Kasangati Prisons, January 20, 2011; farmers, near Ntenjeru Prison, January 21, 2011. An OC with 100 prisoners working six days a week could earn around 7,200,000 Uganda shillings a month (approximately $3,060). Prisoners had various colloquial terms for work for private contractors such as, “ekigaali,” “kibawula,” “parties,” and “bed shamba two.” By contrast, going to work on prison land is called “federo” or “main shamba.” 140 Human Rights Watch interviews with personnel, Sentema Prison, January 20, 2011; OC, Kasangati Prison, January 20, 2011; orderly sergeant, Ntenjeru Prison, January 21, 2011; farmers, near Sentema Prison and Kasangati prisons, January 20, 2011; farmers, near Ntenjeru Prison, January 21, 2011. 141 Ibid. 142 Ibid. 143 Email communication from prison authorities to Human Rights Watch, May 19, 2011. 27 Human Rights Watch | July 2011
have been convicted of petty offences are permitted to work on private land. 144 Currently, Ugandan prisons violate their own policy. 145 Media reports have speculated that wide-ranging police sweeps of people in slum areas of Kampala have been driven by the prison authorities’ desires to have free manpower to contract out to private landowners. 146 Prisoners at Muduuma Prison told Human Rights Watch that police engaged in large-scale street sweeps, accusing them of being “rogue and vagabond,” a vaguely defined crime akin to loitering, releasing those who could pay and taking the remainder for hard labor. 147 In the third model, prisoners cultivate directly for prison OCs and wardens, who sell the produce at a profit. Officially, prison officers can have prisoners work on officers’ own “small gardens…usually once a week on Saturdays.” 148 One OC stated that he personally earned approximately 1,000,000 Uganda shillings ($425) per season and estimated his wardens each made 500,000 to 600,000 Uganda shillings ($200 to $250) per season, the equivalent of two to three months’ wages, by selling the produce that prisoners cultivated on their land. 149 Prisoners with prior experience in agricultural trade placed estimates of the OC’s stock to be several times the amount he reported to Human Rights Watch. 150 Inmates at the same prison, where remand times were on average five years, believed that their prolonged pretrial detention was in part due to the desire of prison wardens to profit from their labor for a considerable period of time. Human Rights Watch observed storage at the prison of the OC’s private maize and rice stock, which he said he planned to sell. 151 Inmates not only 144 Ibid. 145 Data provided to Human Rights Watch by prison authorities on prisoner escapes in 2010 indicated that remanded prisoners escaped from “labour party,” “outside party,” “building party,” and “bricks party.” These categories were distinct from categories (such as “M/shamba” or “staff shamba”) indicating that prisoners had escaped during labor on prison-owned land or staff farms. Letter from prison authorities to Human Rights Watch, June 29, 2011. 146 Anthony Wesaka and Angelo Izama, “Police, Prisons on the Spot over Inmates Forced Labour,” The Monitor, June 27, 2010. 147 Penal Code Act of 1950, sec. 168. Human Rights Watch interviews with Washington, Muduuma Prison, November 12, 2010; Nathan, Muduuma Prison, November 12, 2010; Patrick, Muduuma Prison, November 12, 2010; Phillip, Muduuma Prison, November 12, 2010; Paul, Muduuma Prison, November 12, 2010; Ronald, Muduuma Prison, November 12, 2010; Timothy, Muduuma Prison, November 12, 2010; Onyango, Muduuma Prison, November 12, 2010. 148 Email communication from prison authorities to Human Rights Watch, May 19, 2011. Information provided by prison authorities to Human Rights Watch on prisoner escapes in 2010 indicated that remanded and convicted prisoners were reported to have escaped from “staff shamba [field].” Letter from prison authorities to Human Rights Watch, June 29, 2011. 149 Human Rights Watch interview with OC, Muinaina Prison, March 4, 2011. Wardens make roughly between 250,000 Uganda shillings and 375,000 shillings (approximately $100 to $160) per month in salary. Housing in barracks for wardens and their families is also usually provided. Human Rights Watch interview with OC, Mutufu Prison, March 7, 2011. 150 Human Rights Watch interviews with Harvey, Muinaina Prison, March 3, 2011; Eric, Muinaina Prison, March 3, 2011; Edward, Muinaina Prison, March 4, 2011; Duncan, Muinaina Prison, March 4, 2011. 151 Human Rights Watch interview with OC, Muinaina Prison, March 4, 2011. “Even Dead Bodies Must Work” 28
Page 1 and 2: Uganda “Even Dead Bodies Must Wor
Page 3 and 4: Copyright © 2011 Human Rights Watc
Page 5 and 6: Prisons Service Failures of Managem
Page 7 and 8: Definitions and Acronyms ART or ARV
Page 10 and 11: Summary If you say you’re sick, t
Page 12 and 13: available in the prison medical sys
Page 14 and 15: Key Recommendations For Immediate I
Page 16 and 17: Methodology This report is based on
Page 18 and 19: Caution should be taken in generali
Page 20 and 21: center prisons. Individual officers
Page 22 and 23: The Ugandan Healthcare System While
Page 24 and 25: wards routinely sleeping twice or t
Page 26 and 27: confiscated all or a portion of the
Page 28 and 29: less quantities of food items,” l
Page 30 and 31: when issued, kept in good order and
Page 32 and 33: Many prisoners said they had to wor
Page 34 and 35: Despite the prohibition in Ugandan
Page 38 and 39: cultivated but also processed the m
Page 40 and 41: they knew corporal punishment was b
Page 42 and 43: these people [with mental disabilit
Page 44 and 45: few hours to two weeks, as specifie
Page 46 and 47: equivalent to that available to the
Page 48 and 49: people. You see, here we sleep in o
Page 50 and 51: suspects will be transferred to reg
Page 52 and 53: will receive visitors and be able t
Page 54 and 55: testing at health centers when allo
Page 56 and 57: We, the sick ones, remain in the wa
Page 58 and 59: When I arrived here, on that very d
Page 60 and 61: Hygiene- and Sanitation-Related Ill
Page 62 and 63: facility.” 323 The WHO protocol f
Page 64 and 65: incarceration. 339 The president of
Page 66 and 67: Table 6: Months in Detention for Re
Page 68 and 69: crimes—in itself a violation of i
Page 70 and 71: Numerous prisoners told Human Right
Page 72 and 73: Unnecessary and extended pretrial d
Page 74 and 75: of two prisoners remanded at Bubukw
Page 76 and 77: The prison death register confirmed
Page 78 and 79: supervisory duties over lower units
Page 80 and 81: Uganda for AIDS relief, 457 with di
Page 82 and 83: IV. Recommendations We need resourc
Page 84 and 85: • Establishing guidelines for ref
Page 86 and 87:
To the Uganda Ministry of Health
Page 88 and 89:
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue
Page 90:
H UMAN R I G H TS WATCH 350 Fifth A
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