The Hon. Principal Judge and other officers at the Stakeholders Plea Bargain sensitization meeting at Luzira
Hon. Justice Dr. Yorokamu Bamwine, the honorable Principal Judge, asked inmates at Upper Prison Luzira, to embrace the Plea Bargain program to lessen their stay in the congested prison facility.
He visited the facility on Wednesday May 2, 2018 to open a two-day stakeholder training session for players in the criminal justice system. He said the programme is designed to help reduce the case backlog in the courts of law, save time and deliver justice at minimum affordable rate.
"It's a cheaper process. The normal court trial costs Shs 1 million for one case, with Plea bargain, only Shs 300,000 will do and it will save court's time," he said.
Plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case between the prosecutor and defendant whereby the defendant agrees to plead guilty to a particular charge in return for some concession from the prosecutor.
Part of the reason for the Wednesday Prison visit was to assess the condition of the inmates and to explain to them the programme so they can make informed decisions.
"Nobody should persuade you to plead guilty when you are innocent. It will be a double punishment. You will serve the sentence here on earth but will also go to hell for confessing to a crime you never committed," he said.
Hundreds of attentive inmates heard that the programme is voluntary act that is initiated by the accused and allows them to negotiate their sentences, a process that is different from the normal court trial.
"Do not be discouraged or intimidated by your friends,relatives and counsel. They do not know what you are going through," said the Principal Judge, adding that Plea Bargain does not follow the normal trial principle of "first in first out".
"10,000 prisoners are waiting for trial while we are waiting for funds to be released. Each session clears a maximum of 40 files," he stated.
Mr Robert Munanura, the Commissioner in charge of Custodial Duties, said Luzira Prisons is too congested with inmates sleeping'body to body'. Currently, the Prison capacity stands at 52,317 inmates, thrice the prison built capacity of 15,000.
"We want more convicts in our system than remands,"said Mr Munanura, adding that the number of people on remand has surpassed the number of convicts.
Hon. Justice Dr. Bamwine also held a closed door meeting with the Prison bosses where they discussed challenges the inmates face. These ranged from delayed trials, arbitrary arrests, fabricated cases and long remand periods.
City lawyer, Mr Allan Nshimye, who representedUganda Law Society President, said the Society had set up a cluster of criminallawyers who are ready to offer representation for the inmates.
Judiciary Advisor on Reforms, Mr. Andrew Khaukha, said the training was part of the Justice, Law and Order Sector nationwide advocacy programme to sensitize inmates and other stakeholders on Plea Bargaining.
The training centred on case preparation and was among other things to give Judicial Officers a firsthand experience on how to plea bargain agreements are arrived at.
Other officials who took part in the exercise included the DPP, Hon. Justice Mike Chibita, Judicial Officers, Uganda Law Society and state attorneys.
Posted 3rd, May 2018
