Prisons reinstate ban on visits to jail centres amid Ebola outbreak

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda Prisons Services has banned visits to inmates in five districts following the outbreak of Ebola. A statement by the Uganda Prisons spokesperson, Frank Baine, says the Commissioner General of Uganda Prisons, Dr. Johnson Byabashaija has banned visits to all prison facilities in Mubende, Kassanda, Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono districts.

“Visitation of all prison units, courts, and during community work and referral of sick prisoners outside the prisons health system is suspended until further notice,” reads the statement. The statement also shows that community work in Kampala, Wakiso, and Mukono districts is suspended until further notice. According to the statement, all prison employees are required to wear face masks while on duty.

It also indicates that Kampala remand prison, which is one of the four prisons at Luzira hill will be collapsed for admission of new prisoners from the Kampala Metropolitan Area. “An Ebola Treatment Unit-ETU and disinfection point for staff deployed at court will be established at Kampala remand prison”, reads the statement.

According to the statement, the directives take immediate effect. When asked where other remanded inmates will go, Baine said those will stay in their respective districts and only Kampala prisoners will go to Kampala remand prison.

He said that although the directives only affected the districts mentioned, there is a possibility of expanding them depending on developments. This is not the first time Uganda Prison Services-UPS is stopping visits to inmates over Ebola.

In 2012, Uganda Prisons banned visitations to inmates for two weeks across the country after 33 people tested positive for Ebola and 14 others succumbed to the disease. In 2020, UPS also suspended visitations to prison facilities following the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which did not spare Uganda.

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