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

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cultivated but also processed the maize from the OC’s private stock, and some prisoners observed private sellers paying the OC within prison grounds. 152 When the prisoners raised the issue of their hard labor with the regional prisons commander, they received no assurances that any of these practices would stop. 153 Wardens and OCs also benefited personally from prisoners in smaller ways by forcing them to clean their houses or do their laundry, allegedly stealing church-donated goods or food given as payment for labor, and in one instance, having them build the OC a new house. 154 Prison authorities wrote to Human Rights Watch, saying, “Where prisoners are forced to work without pay, that’s abuse. In my tours, I am yet to meet this. The Officer in Charge of the Prison must keep an inventory of these activities that will have to be checked by the Prisons Inspectorate and the Regional Prisons Commanders.” 155 However, at Kitalya Farm Prison, where Human Rights Watch had to go to the fields to retrieve prisoners from their work for interviews, each of the prisoners interviewed reported that only prisoners with disciplinary authority are ever paid for their work; all others receive nothing. 156 Indeed, the vast majority of prisoners Human Rights Watch interviewed who did hard labor reported being forced to work without pay. At some prisons, prisoners were paid nominal amounts of money, around 200 to 500 Uganda shillings per day ($0.09 to $0.21), or received small amounts of food, soap, or cigarettes as payment, but in most instances, prisoners received nothing. 157 Punishment Ugandan law lays out disciplinary procedures for prisons. 158 And some of the punishments currently inflicted are in line with Ugandan and international law: Prisoners may lose the 152 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. 153 Human Rights Watch interview with Eric, Muinaina Prison, March 3, 2011; Duncan, Muinaina Prison, March 4, 2011. 154 Human Rights Watch interviews with Rosemary, Butuntumura Prison, November 11, 2010; Sylvia, Fort Portal Women’s, November 15, 2010; Christine, Fort Portal Women’s, November 15, 2010; Emma, Jinja Women’s, March 2, 2011; Catherine, Jinja Women’s, March 2, 2011; OC, Masafu Prison, March 8, 2011. 155 Email communication from prison authorities to Human Rights Watch, May 19, 2011. 156 Human Rights Watch interviews with Owen, Kitalya Farm Prison, February 28, 2011; David, Kitalya Farm Prison, February 28, 2011; Emmanuel, Kitalya Farm Prison, February 28, 2011; Gilbert, Kitalya Farm Prison, February 28, 2011; Julius, Kitalya Farm Prison, February 28, 2011; Moses, Kitalya Farm Prison, February 28, 2011; Joseph, Kitalya Farm Prison, February 28, 2011. 157 For example, some prisoners at Masaka Ssaza, Masaka, Jinja Main, Muinaina, and Masafu stated that they were paid 200 to 500 Uganda shillings for work on private farms. Prisoners with authority to supervise other prisoners were sometimes given 500 Uganda shillings ($0.25) out of the warden’s tips while others were not, and in many cases, no prisoner received any remuneration. Human Rights Watch interviews with Ali, Murchison Bay, November 20, 2010; Mafabi, Butuntumura Prison, November 11, 2010; Musa, Muduuma Prison, November 12, 2010. 158 Under Ugandan law, prisoners upon admission to prison are to be provided with written information on regulations related to the treatment of prisoners in that category; disciplinary requirements of the institution; and the complaints procedure. 29 Human Rights Watch | July 2011
possibility of early release, 159 be given additional cleaning or field work, 160 or denied visitors. 161 For serious unlawful offences committed in prison, a prisoner can be criminally charged, prosecuted, and convicted with an additional sentence. 162 Yet, at almost every prison Human Rights Watch visited, prisoners overwhelmingly reported beatings and the use of isolation cells flooded with water while the prisoner was forced to be naked, beaten, and given limited food as the primary punishments. 163 Beatings They hit me so hard, I was crying blood. —Edmund, Muinaina Farm Prison, March 4, 2011, describing a beating by prison wardens and other inmates Severe beatings—in the fields as described above but also in the prisons themselves— conducted as punishment either by the wardens or by inmates with disciplinary authority, were reported by prisoners at nearly all prisons visited by Human Rights Watch. Overall, 41 percent of the prisoners interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they had been beaten; 87 percent of prisoners at farm prisons had experienced a beating. Corporal punishment is forbidden in Ugandan prisons 164 and international law forbids cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and torture. 165 Prison officers told Human Rights Watch that Prisons Act of 2006, sec. 58(5)(a)-(c). Furthermore, “A prisoner shall not be punished for a prison offence until the prisoner has had an opportunity of hearing the charge against him or her and making a defence and where necessary and practicable, the prisoner shall be allowed the services of an interpreter.” Prisons Act of 2006, sec. 96. 159 Prisons Act of 2006, sec. 85. 160 See, e.g., Human Rights Watch interviews with Okello, Luzira Upper Prison, November 8, 2010; Samuel, Fort Portal Men’s Prison, November 15, 2010; Kakuru, Butuntumura Prison, November 11, 2010; Akello, Luzira Women’s Prison, November 10, 2010; Agatha, Luzira Women’s Prison, November 9, 2010; Abigail, Fort Portal Women’s Prison, November 15, 2010; Isaac, Jinja Main Prison, March 1, 2011; OC, Fort Portal Prison, November 15, 2010. 161 Human Rights Watch interviews with OC, Fort Portal Prison, November 15, 2010; OC, Masaka Ssaza Prison, November 22, 2010; OC, Muinaina Farm Prison, March 3, 2011; OC, Masafu Prison, March 8, 2011. 162 Prisons Act of 2006, sec. 95; Human Rights Watch interviews with OC, Masaka Ssaza Prison, November 22, 2010; deputy OC, Jinja Main Prison, March 1, 2011; OC, Fort Portal Prison, November 15, 2010. 163 Prisoners consistently said that smoking (cigarettes or marijuana), engaging in same-sex sexual conduct, refusing or delaying to work, trying to escape, fighting with other prisoners, or stealing would entail either a beating, incarceration in an isolation cell, or both. In some cases, minor disciplinary offences also were considered to merit these punishments, such as dirtying the shower area leading to a beating or use of a mobile phone to a week in an isolation cell. Frequently, prisoners expressed to researchers their fear that speaking with outsiders about the problems in prison would earn them a beating. Prisoners also said that they were beaten at some prisons when they requested medical care. Punishment for sexual conduct was particularly severe. 164 According to prison authorities, “There is … one punishment that is currently outlawed and that’s Corporal Punishment. This is now treated as assault and purely a Police case [case to be investigated by police].” Email communication from prison authorities to Human Rights Watch, May 19, 2011. “Even Dead Bodies Must Work” 30
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 36 and 37: to Kampala for distribution to pris
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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