Ugandan Prisons

Prisons in Uganda are amongst the most overpopulated in Africa and, after Kenya, has the largest prison population in East Africa.  The Ugandan Prison Service is responsible for 247 prisons which have the capacity to hold 16,517 prisoners.  As of August 2016, there were some 48,689 prisoners held across the prison estate.  This is an over occupancy of 294%. 
 
Uganda has employed prisoners on farms since 1964 as a way of rehabilitating prisoners. In 2000, the prison farms were re-organised as a commercial activity and this included selling produce to offset running costs in the face of restricted budgets.  The Prison Service also operates some 27 prison farms, including one on the route between Nebbi and Panyago.  The prison farms include 107 square miles of arable land and mostly produce maize, which covers around 30 percent of the food requirements of the country’s prisoners.  Vegetables, fruit and livestock, as well as forestry and cotton are also cultivated by prison labour.

There is no legal requirement for the Uganda Prison Service to pay those prisoners working on these farms.  However, skilled workers are paid up to 500 UGS (about £0.10) a day while unskilled labourers receive 100 UGS (about £0.02).  Typically, a subsistence farmer in Uganda earns around 28,000 shillings (£6about .35) a day.

Prisoners wearing their distinctive yellow overalls planting a maize crop

whilst overseen by armed guards