By Eusukoit Cuthbert Otim.
PAKWACH- Inmates at Ragem Prison Farm from the west Nile district of Pakwach district are learning valuable skills while serving their sentences. One inmate, James Kabuye, had never seen a cotton plant before, but his transfer to the farm changed his life.
James Kabuye, 35 years, serving a two-year sentence for theft, was initially upset when he was moved from Luzira Maximum Security prison to Ragem Prison Farm, which was far from his family. However, this move turned out to be a turning point for him. Despite being in prison, Kabuye has been able to provide for his family through cotton farming. He earned 300,000 shillings within one year of serving his sentence and used it to pay his son’s school tuition. He also plans to invest in cotton farming once he is released.
The law, signed by the Minister of Internal Affairs in 2000, mandates compensation for prisoners who provide labor for both private and government projects. Prisoners with skills, such as teachers or carpenters, earn 1,398 shillings per day, while semi-skilled prisoners earn 699 shillings per day. Non-skilled prisoners, primarily engaged in digging, receive 280 shillings per day. These payments serve as motivation for prisoners to work and are part of the prison system’s shift from penal to correctional rehabilitation. Dr. Johnson Byabashaija, the Commissioner General of Prisons, explains that Uganda Prisons Service has embraced commercial maize farming. The decision to focus on cotton farming followed a presidential directive, aiming to boost cotton production after local farmers shifted to more profitable crops. Cotton cultivation requires intensive labor and incurs costs for spraying and weeding, discouraging small-scale farmers.
The President entrusted the Uganda prisons with large-scale cotton farming due to their extensive arable land and farming experience. The institution has dedicated 44,000 acres of its 60,000-acre land to cotton farming and aims to produce one million bales of cotton per season as part of the East African Regional Integration initiative to reduce the importation of second-hand clothes.