Kitalya is not a torture chamber- Frank Baine

The Uganda Prisons Service spokesperson Frank Baine, has trashed social media reports that Kitalya prison is being used as a torture chamber for political prisoners.

While addressing the press at Naguru police headquarters, Baine said Kitalya is neither a political detention centre nor a torture chamber. He was responding to social media claims by one Lumbuye, who he says has made it a business to attack government agencies especially security.

“Kitalya is a Mini-Max prison and it is on of the 5 isolation centres we have in Kampala. So, there is no discrimination of who comes to Kitalya as long as you have come through Court. And the courts we have are either Ordinary or Military courts. Every person that is in Kitalya or any other prison in this country is accounted for. There’s a record in Court or at the Prisons” Baine said.

He added that their mandate is to receive and keep inmates from courts of law, but not torture any of these prisoners.

“Uganda Prisons Service operates a transparent system, we do open door policy. Actually, three weeks back, the Parliamentary committee on internal affairs and defense, visited Kitalya prison and even talked to the inmates. So, it is very surprising that someone is calling Kitalya a torture chamber. Torture is not one of our responsibilities” Baine clarified.

He added that there are no concerns on sanitation and hygiene at Kitalya as alleged by the social user, noting that Kitalya is spacious and can even accommodate 10,000 inmates at any given point.

Baine says that Kitalya’s capacity is 3,000, but even during lockdown, they did not reach the maximum.

He called upon Ugandans to ignore such people who want to mislead them into thinking that Uganda has political prisoners or even torturing any inmates.