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Rising
Homosexuality Among Prisoners Irks Byabashaija
source: Monitor Kampala
21 Mar 2006- Uganda- The Commissioner General of Prisons, Mr
Johnson Byabashaija, has said homosexuality is peaking in most detention
facilities countrywide.
He said inmates were being
attracted to colleagues of the same sex primarily due to "long sexual
deprivation and over-congestion, whereby heat radiates between them".
Byabashaija made the remarks during
a news conference at New Mvara View Inn on the outskirts of Arua town on
Sunday.
He said many inmates presently shun
the "abhorrent" sexual practice because they consider it as "alien and
shameful".
"But I am surprised nobody is
making noise about female prisoners having sex among themselves. The
talk is always on homosexuality," Byabashaija said. "These sexual vices
are terrible."
There are currently about 20, 000
prisoners confined in the 48 central government prisons all over the
country.
He said the prisons force had made
significant strides in improving the welfare of its staff and that of
inmates.
"Some of our warders used to walk
in tattered civilian clothes with a gun slung on the back, just like
rebels," Byabashaija said. "In some cases, their private parts were
dangling out. But now the warders and prisoners are all uniformed and
smart," he said.
Byabashaija said feeding and
medical care for inmates had improved tremendously that "you do not hear
of prisoners dying of malnourishment anymore". "And there are no more
acts of torture or manhandling by warders to extort information from
suspects."
He said the jailers had been
sensitised about observing the rights of prisoners
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