prison wall.
newspaper.
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October · November · December. 2011...
no. 2..
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Otai Lawrence (former prisoner) - Farming in prison
When I was sent to upper prison by the high court to serve an eight year plus
sentence for manslaughter, I did not think that life would be meaningful any more.
Upon entering prison I was allocated a cell and a ward where to sleep until further
notice. I found myself bored and stressed because the daily activities included
regular lock ups, lining up for the day's meals and, of course, sitting in the prison
courtyard either gossiping or looking aimlessly at the crowd.
In upper prison, the authorities permitted a few prisoners to manage small plots in
which one could plant first yielding vegetables, like tomatoes, carrots, spinach, as
well as cabbages, that are popularly known as "sukuma wiki", literally: “pushing the
week ahead”. One prisoner of high status owned such a plot and was looking for a
gardener to take care of his plot. The plot measured three by three meters of sand
and my main duties were; to plough it, to apply some manure - usually chicken
droppings brought from the prison staff quarters to fertilize the soil - to plant the
seedlings, to look after the seedlings till after maturity, to harvest, to sell the
seedlings - usually through barter trade - and to hand over the income to the owner
of the garden.
The currency or means of exchange at that time was a piece of laundry soap that
would be exchanged for a small handful of greens or a tomato. In one harvest, I was
able to get between 50 to 80 pieces of soap. Ten pieces of soap would go to the
prisoner working in the staff quarters for more manure, ten pieces would go towards
my wages and the rest would go to the owner of the garden. For the next two years,
I survived on the job and would get vegetables to boast my diet and to keep me
healthy for the entire period.
However, the gardening in prison had many challenges. There were less than 40
small plots to support a population of over 2500 inmates. This meant that to get a
good harvest one had to watch over the garden at all hours that the prisoners were
outside their cells or else the desperate prisoners would pluck off your entire garden.
Most gardens would be harvested at the same time, hence leading to a surplus and
prison inflation as prisoners‟ purchasing power would be greatly reduced. In contrast,
the influx of more vegetables from visitors would reduce the market. For good crop
yields, you needed to look after your garden properly; watering it daily, applying
manure and protecting it from thieves.
However, by the time of my release, I had learnt that intensive farming on a small
plot of land was possible and can yield highly and I believe that small-scale
gardening is a potential activity that can help former prisoners with their
reintegration.
Syson K (Luzira Women Prison) My roadmap to better leadership skills from prison
Paddy Nashaba (Jinja Main Prison) - From spoils to skills: the key to a good attitude is the willingness to change
I am a Born Again Christian who received Christ while in prison. I am an ex-death row inmate but am currently serving an ordinary sentence with a living
hope I had never experienced before. I have been in prison for twenty years but prison is my base to reach the mountaintops.
While on death row I acquired skills in theology, computers, leadership and some entrepreneurial areas such paper bead making, among others. Talking of
paper beads, I remember how I entered prison without any skills, however simple. I have always longed for skills to avoid a relapse when I am released.
One day as I was watching the television, a new programme appeared on the screen: Learning how to make paper beads. I became inquisitive and was
keen to see what would follow. The instructor, a lady, took us through the whole process and that was the end for that day. But before she finished the
programme, she announced that the programme appeared on Mondays and Wednesdays. Since it was a Monday I eagerly awaited the following
Wednesday. The programme started and she again took us through the process. In brief, I watched three consecutive shows until by the fourth it was
time for me to make a paper bead and guess what, I succeeded – a good bead in my hands!
My next step was to make five more good beads and put them on a string. Then I got a piece of paper, wrote some requirements and then went to the
officer-in-charge to seek permission to start a paper beads project. At the back of my mind, however, was the fact that policy did not allow a condemned
prisoner to do any work. Regardless, I had faith that my God was able and so it was faith versus policy. Faith succeeded and permission was granted.
Remember I had only 17,500 shillings in my prison account, which was to be used to purchase what I required. I started small and hoped to end big
because I had already achieved something.
As for now, the project is on a self-help basis. While on prison and afterwards it equips inmates with skills in various areas such as paper bead making,
basketry and knitting among others. Thank you to the prison administration for providing the project with a workplace, security and guidance. They have
allowed the mass media, which have in turn played an important role as a source of information as far as skills and fashions are concerned. On the other
hand, the challenges are that there is not enough capital to expand the project. I lack a market and market research is rarely carried out. Also there is no
follow-up on inmates after release for empowerment and easy resettlement.
My future plans are that the skills given to inmates reach each and every prison in Uganda and that capital is extended to prisoners and ex-prisoners for
the purchase of materials (inside and outside prison). I hope that a thorough follow-up will be carried out to enable prisoners and ex-prisoners to acquire
more skills to help them be good citizens.
Omartine (death row inmate of Luzira Upper Prison) - Rehabilitation, transformation and correction in Condemn
It is something more or less like gambling or a trial and error method that in this section there is no specific programme that caters for the rehabilitation,
transformation and correction of inmates on death row. Probably the reason is that these inmates have no, or little, likelihood of seeing the next day of
their lives. Bearing this in mind, one may wonder why valuable time and resources be wasted. These inmates moved on with their hopeless lives without
programmes such as tailoring, cobbling, carpentry, poultry keeping, clothes ironing, kitchen work and football, like their counterparts in the Luzira Upper
Prison receive.
It was about a decade ago when these inmates on death row, through religious people like Rev. Fr. Augostoni and the Franciscan Prison Ministry team in
Kampala Kamwokya, discovered that the last freedom of man is only the mind, which shall never be imprisoned whatsoever, even if all the body parts
have been chained. They started something that resembled a school for formal education. This was from P7 on to secondary level. The school programme
has hugely helped the death row inmates in rehabilitating them since many are testifying that they committed their crimes because of their illiteracy,
poverty and ignorance. Now, in the valley of death they are able to read books, write and speak English, a language that is an international language. They
are able and ready to help their community and the nation at large if given a chance.
Having been sentenced to 20 years in jail as a result of domestic violence which progressed
into an assault charge, I thought that I was daydreaming. Being the first lady to be given
that sentence, I didn‟t think it possible, thus I vowed to fight tooth and nail to appeal the
sentence.
With my background of attending a boarding school for over ten years, I approached prison
life with a calm and submissive character, which paved a smooth path for me compared to
some inmates who had not previously stayed in a community of over 100 people.
I can never forget the 20th of May 2003, when I entered Luzira Women‟s Prison at around
5pm. On arrival at the gate I found a few inmates and I still cannot tell whether it was
because of my stature or appearance, but somehow one whispered to the other „she is
going to be Katikiro‟ (a ward leader). Certainly, that was beyond my imagination as I had
lodged my appeal and was sure that my days in prison were numbered.
In the beginning life was not a bed of roses in prison as the „balculus‟ (prison warders also
call them Bamukulu or Mukulu for short) were on their toes. I was not allowed to move
freely as they had never received an inmate with such a long sentence. But with time I
approached one of the administrators and expressed my discomfort with the way I was
being treated. The administrator was very helpful and eventually, I was accorded my due
freedom.
Before long, I was appointed as a ward leader and was even taken to a workshop as my
„work party‟. We are usually allocated „work parties‟ according to our abilities, sentence or
vulnerabilities. Parties include main shamba (vegetable garden), workshops, light duty,
kitchen etc. After close to two years, I was trained as an assistant counsellor and this
boosted my leadership skills a lot.
Soon the overall Katikiro completed her sentence and there had to be elections for the new
Katikiro. I did not have any interest but to my dismay, my name was nominated. Elections
are carried out democratically. There were five nominated candidates and we had to stand
for inmates to line up behind us. Oh my God! I won the election by 95% and this is when I
confirmed the scripture that says „all leadership comes from God‟.
Leading mature people is the worst task, we have people from all the different corners of
Uganda with various cultures, and backgrounds – a good number of them are illiterate.
Some are demoralised and frustrated, others are family people but when I knelt down and
asked God to guide me through this leadership, he really did it for me. Sometimes I ask
myself whether it is me coordinating, organising, planning and controlling all these, close to
350 inmates – surely God is on my side.
Leadership in prison has made me a better administrator and reformed person. I have
learnt to control and regulate anger, deal with different challenges, not be judgemental,
counsel the sick and stressed, and those who are vulnerable.
Luck was on my side when education
was introduced in Luzira Women‟s
Prison. I have embarked on serious
education and am hoping to join
university when I leave prison and
earn a degree in Guiding and
Counselling. I am also planning to
write a book about how to deal with
challenges as a leader.
This project is sponsored by:
Drukwerk Expert
The interested students enrol themselves not with the authority but with their fellow inmates who
volunteer to teach. These teachers prepare lessons with the limited scholastic material given to
them by Sister Antoinette who has been nicknamed Nama Kula. Many times on death row, we call
her Mama Luzira because she comes for all and serves all our needs in a simple and humble way.
After the enrolment of students, lessons are taught in a limited space in a section without any
covering structure. The classes may stop if there is rain or sunshine. In other words, it is controlled
by nature on any given day. But we thank God who has blessed the inmates on death row with
school. Despite the harsh conditions they live in, their performance is excellent.
Thank you to the volunteer teachers for their efforts, even though the government has already
taken over what you initiated. Keep up the good work and maintain your efforts in other areas,
which are rehabilitating. We thank the external teachers for coming to lift us high in the sky with
what started as a small seed. Thank you to the Uganda Prison Authority for the open door policy
that has allowed the good will of God to come in and empower death row inmates in Luzira with
formal education, which has expanded all over Luzira Hill. In a special way, we also thank Rev. Fr.
Agostoni who initiated, in a prayerful way, the fight against the death penalty.
Ronnie Okot (Kampala Remand Prison) - Power of the Law and Gospel
As a child, I used to crave standing out from the crowd. I would always want to do things in a unique way in order to be different from the rest. That
zeal led me from being an intelligent, innocent and pure young lad to an extra-intelligent, sly, cunning and daring rascal to gain extra recognition in
the society that I lived in. My knowledge and wisdom increased simply because I was vigilant and observant. By using simple logic, I was able to
tackle even the most puzzling problems of my age as well as of some elders. This way of reasoning made me a cunning and dangerous menace to
society, just for the thrill.
In the space of a few years and with a macho ego, I became a person who enjoyed taking risks. I always wanted to take simple manoeuvres to an
extreme level where people would just depict me as mad. I would orchestrate complex activities like high rated theft in ways that others considered
suicide. This earned me the name „Droopy Dogg‟ literally meaning „Lazy Boy‟. I was always slow to act but when I did, the results would most
probably be damaging.
My mind can think in multiple folds where to get a task completed I would disguise myself and my personality to play the game in my favour. That
trick could make me access anyone in any way irrespective of IQ and when I strike, no traces are left in my direction. Because of this, to date there
are so many crimes that have simply been dismissed as baffling. They say a quiet person is always dangerous because you can never know what
they are thinking. You only get clues through their actions, which can also be disguised to fool the victim, or in most cases, victims.
Irrespective of all this, my conscience never allowed me to fully value what I do because my heart simply never belonged to that type of life. I was
using my God-given talents for Satan‟s purposes and since I was not really much of a physical worker, it became normal for me to live out the devil‟s
motto „Steal, Kill and Destroy‟. I have always recognised and valued Christ, even from a tender age. I am prayerful and I have that will to give to the
needy. Character-wise I am not troublesome. I enjoy being happy, as well as seeing other people happy and if someone is sad I feel worse because
it is people like me who bring that misfortune – but that was my way of survival. With time, I met a friend who really changed my life…How?
He made me understand Christ in a different way and that was through the bible. I grew so attached to the Lord‟s teachings that I became willing to
lay down my life for him and through that, I had to recognise that what I was doing was lawfully wrong. Through that conviction, I was made to see
and experience the gospel. I came to prison for the first time for assault (falsely accused) but my time here made me realise to what extent the Devil
had been using the children of God to execute his mission. It is now that I know the angel of darkness has no powers but only uses yours for his
benefit. I will never allow that again –in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Samakula Frank (Luzira Upper Prison) - That day
When I was still outside, when I still had the right to the fresh breeze of the free world, I remember once an anti-government sect that complained about the number of public holidays that we in Uganda
boast of. „Fools‟ – that is all I could exclaim – for I wondered if they knew how much pleasure they could cost me; as if any changes could happen anyway.
Yet now, how I hate holidays! See, in Upper Prison we are entitled to three days of visits per week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). Be sure that if it is a public holiday it is not a visiting day. And that is
more than enough reason to irk me.
In a population of about 3,000 prisoners – occupying a setting meant for 600, it is not easy to locate the person you require. So on visiting days (V.D.‟s) while all are eager, ears wiped of wax, for their
names to be called (those few expecting to be visited) the „radios‟ call us. Yes, „radios‟ is what these guys adept at shouting are called. He shouts the name of an inmate repeatedly around Boma, our
castle (courtyard). The inmate then speeds to the V. dock. There, alas, one can collect a keg of tears as a thick glass in wire mesh secludes us from our visitors.
That day I had a couple of friends come to check on me. You know, I tend to get them to smile rather than wearing such grieving faces. Ironically, it was me who cried that time though. I tried to
obscure the tears when one asked „what really happened?‟ Remembering everything is one hell of a miserable moment. How one merry day ended in a prelude to prison is something that racks my brain.
Bearing in mind how journalists prattled on slanderously about me, their question dismantled me. I however regained myself and at last, I told them.
I was drunk – so was he. It was late in the night, 3 o‟ clock to be precise. He attacked me over a game of pool we had played. I sought to rescue myself from him, as I ought to, and I managed.
Unfortunately, he lost his breath.
I closed my eyes as the girls were in tears, opening them again, mine too were drenched.
If you are interested in appearing in our next prison newsletter, please hand in your entry with your permission for POP to publish
your story to the Welfare Office and address it to: Product of Prison, Writing Project, P.O. Box 33862, Kampala. Please follow the
instructions in the writing manual, which you can find in the school, the library and/or the Welfare Office.