Observance of human rights in Uganda, perceptions and challenges of enjoying human rights of prisoners: case study Morukatipe prison- Tororo district

Abstract

Due to the poor human rights state in Uganda’s prisons, this research investigation was carried out in Morukatipe to establish the state of Human rights in Morukatipe prison, Tororo District. The research investigated into the observance of prisoners rights in Morukatipe prison with the aim of establishing the prisoners’ perceptions in respect of prisoners human rights in the perspective of Uganda’s Prisoners Human Rights legal framework and to establish the challenges if any that the prisoners of Morukatipe Prison face in the enjoyment of human rights. The research aim was to establish the extent of the observance of prisoners’ human rights in the prison and to contrive ways of engaging with the challenges to the enjoyment of Human rights by the prisoners. The research adopted a cross sectional research design combining both Qualitative and Quantitative paradigms of social research. The research established that there are human rights violations in Morukatipe prison and that despite the breach of human rights in the prison, the prisoners were not aware of their human rights as prisoners and are not enthusiastic to enforce their rights through courts of law. The research also established that the breach of human rights in the prison is to a large extent perpetrated by the prison authorities; who can evidently be noticed not to care about the poor prison facilities; and riding on ignorance of the Prisoners’ of their human rights. The prison authorities also showed the same lack of knowledge of law. Owing to the aforesaid, the research recommended that there must be creation of awareness of prisoners’ human rights law among the prisoners and the prison officials. The research also recommended that the poor prison facilities should be improved and that the essential services that are currently lacking in the prisons should be availed by the responsible authorities and that relevant laws should be enacted to operationalize the observation of prisoners’ human rights in Uganda.