Uganda: Forced Labor, Disease Imperil Prisoners

Inmates in Ugandan prisons are subject to brutal compulsory labor, frequent violence, miserable overcrowding, and disease, Human Rights Watch said today in a report examining conditions in 16 prisons throughout the country. Over half of those in Ugandan prisons are in pretrial detention and may be held for years without having been convicted of any crime, Human Rights Watch said. Profits from prisoner labor often benefit individual prison officers, while prisoners suffer illness from inadequate food, water, and basic hygiene.