"Even dead bodies must work"

"This report documents brutal forced labor in Ugandan prisons, and the toll that work, physical abuse, miserable conditions, and infectious disease take on the health of inmates. The research, based on on-site research and interviews with prisoners and prison officers in Uganda, found that despite some reforms, the conditions at many of Uganda's prisons constitute cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or torture. Overcrowding is as high as 3,200 percent of capacity and malnutrition leads to disease and blindness; prisoners drink filthy water and sleep on lice-infested blankets. They are forced to work for the government, prison staff, and private landowners. Prisoners with HIV and tuberculosis may be sent away from the one prison which offers prison-based treatment, to rural areas where no treatment is available, to ease congestion or to boost the farm workforce. Medical care is often non-existent, or prison officers delay or deny prisoners access to it. The flawed criminal justice system which keeps prisoners incarcerated needlessly and unjustly for years, over half are remanded, unconvicted of any crime, compounds the poor conditions. The Ugandan government should immediately eliminate abusive prisoner labor practices, and the physical abuse of prisoners. It should scale up prison medical services, insist that prison staff take responsibility for prisoner health, and improve conditions of detention. The government should also enact criminal justice reforms to increase the use of bail and non-custodial sentences, and the availability of legal representation. International agencies and donors need to prioritize prison health, and to support the government to address corruption, and improve conditions, medical care, and justice for prisoners."--P. 4 cover.