6.2. TORTURE IN PRISONS

‘The policemen threatened to beat me if I did not tell them where I got the drugs from yet I was at work and knew nothing about the drugs they wanted.’

Charles, a suspected thief at Kawempe Police Station said he was tortured but feared to narrate further details, instead he showed the interviewer his missing nails.

‘I was taken from here and tortured. They told me to tell them where I kept the property but I could not since I know nothing about it. Just look at my nails.’

‘I have never been tortured since I was brought here, however, I was tortured during my arrest and detention in Kireka by CMI.’

Sandra, a Rwandan refugee who was working as a hairdresser at Kyaka Refugee camp said she was tortured at Kireka by CMI.

The percentage of those who had experienced or witnessed acts of torture was even higher in prison with 71% alleging they witnessed or experienced an incident of torture.

In prison, the main perpetrators of torture were identified as fellow inmates especially those elevated by the prisons authority to watch over fellow colleagues, commonly referred to as ‘katikiros’. These accounted for 77% of the highlighted cases while the prison warders came in second (33%).

Figure 12: Perpetrators of torture within prisons (Source: ASF baseline survey data)

Allan, a prisoner at Kigo Prison in Wakiso district stated that he was only tortured by fellow inmates.

‘The prison warders treat us well, however, our fellow inmates, especially the leaders mistreat us. They beat us alot.’