SOUTHERN PROVINCE NYANZA—Ugandan senior prisons officers have taken a good lesson on managing prisons and detainment centres while on a three-day visit to Rwanda prisons. The Frw2.5billion Mpanaga prison, situated in Nyanza, accommodates over 6,400 inmates, and will soon receive more Genocide suspects from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Arusha, Tanzania. The delegation was by Dr. John Byabashaija, Commissioner General of Uganda prisons and included Commissioner Tommy Ochen; senior superintendent Moses Kamugisha, and Superintendent Jimmy Vancy Issamat. The four-man team toured the Mpanga prison last week, among other prisons in Rwanda, and insisted that similar strategies would immediately be duplicated in Uganda prisons management. “These prisons are like universities and are well-built to suit living conditions of inmates. This is a challenge and a sign of respect for human rights, cleanliness, freedom and a chance for prisoners to reform” Byabashaija said. Byabashaija also awed at how Rwandans have developed clear strategies of development in the years since the 1994 Genocide and said Ugandan situations were ‘incomparable.’ Steven Balinda, director of prisons in Rwanda, also commended the visitors’ appreciative attitude and said that Rwandan counterparts would also visit Uganda next year to extend the relationship. Balinda underscored that the issue of cultivation of land for prisoner sustainability was under consideration and most of the prisons in Rwanda would acquire more cultivated land to meet feeding needs. Excited prisoner sang and danced for the delegation and shared a meal after a tour of the bio-gas project, water storage system, and wards. The delegation also exchanged language skills with Rwanda officials and inmates. Ends
