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In the past two months, the heads of Uganda\u2019s prison system have discovered and decried the intense prison overcrowding in their own prisons. In October, the headline read, \u201cPrisons worry over increased number of female inmates<\/a>\u201d. Today\u2019s headline reads, \u201cPrisons boss decries abuse of prisoners\u2019 rights<\/a>\u201d. The abuse is overcrowding. Will this performative articulation of attention make any difference? If history is any guide \u2026 no. As of September 2023, Uganda\u2019s prisons were the third most congested in the world, after the Republic of Congo and Haiti. Uganda\u2019s prisons are at 367.4% of capacity<\/a>. In 2021, Uganda\u2019s prison density was 319<\/a>%. From 2000 to 2020, year after year, Uganda\u2019s prison population has grown<\/a>. In 2000, the prisons were already at over-capacity. In 2005, two-thirds of Uganda\u2019s 18,000 prisoners were awaiting trial. Some had been caged for years, for no reason other than not being able to post bond. Of the 18,000, prisoners, 5,000 were in Luzira, built in the 1950\u2019s, designed for a capacity of 500. That\u2019s ten people for every one person\u2019s space. For years. In 2010, the prison system reported over 30,000 prisoners, of whom a little over 1,000 were women<\/a>. In March 2010, Luzira Upper was at 366% of approved capacity; Luzira Women\u2019s at 357%. In 2013, members of civil society called on the State to \u201cexempt women offenders with babies and expectant mothers from long custodial sentences<\/a>\u201d. At that time, 161 children of women prisoners were guests of the Ugandan State. In March 2012, Luzira Women\u2019s Prison was at 357% capacity. In October 2016, Uganda\u2019s notoriously overcrowded prisons recorded an occupancy rate of 293%<\/a>, more than half of whom were pre-trial or remand prisoners.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a bit late to be `discovering\u2019 the problem. It has been there all along, in plain sight and fully documented. What\u2019s going on? The State agencies have a simple answer: too many remand prisoners. What\u2019s really going on? At the very least, the problem is no problem at all. Heads of prison staff routinely discover the overcrowding, lament the overcrowding, explain the overcrowding, and then do absolutely nothing.<\/p>\n According to the Commissioner General of the Uganda Prison Service, Can. Dr. Johnson Omuhunde Rwashote Byabashaija, in the last ten years, there has been a 125% increase in the number of incarcerated women, from 1591 in 2013 to 3585 today. The Commissioner\u2019s response<\/a>? \u201cWe have a policy that all women are entitled to beds. We might not be meeting it but that is our policy. Even when they are in prison, they are mothers of the nation. We can\u2019t handle them the way we handle the other inmates. It is very terrible to see mothers congested, mothers need a lot of space to accommodate the children and themselves.\u201d We might not be meeting the policy, but we definitely do have a policy, and so it\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n