Human Rights Watch has today released a report, urging government to institute reforms to change the deploring state of Ugandan prisons.
The report decries forced labor which prisoners are subjected to for the benefit of private individuals.
Titled “Even dead bodies must work”, it documents routine physical abuse and failure of the criminal justice system to protect the rights of prisoners.
The report notes that though conditions in a few regional prisons have improved in recent years, the treatment of inmates in many centers remains cruel and degrading.
It also points to the lack adequate health services, with drug resistant strains of TB and HIV/AIDS easily spread among inmates.
The report urges the government to halt the beatings and compulsory labor for private profit throughout the prison system.
Government is also being asked to hold prison wardens accountable for the abuse of inmates’ rights and to provide adequate funding to improve the conditions of living in the various prisons.
