The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Services has revealed intentions of incorporating the Uganda Prison Service in its anti-gender and sexual violence programs, since prisons play a vital role in the rehabilitation and re-integration of sexual related offenders.
The Commissioner Gender and Women Affairs Angella Nakafero made the revelation during the opening of a four day gender and sexual violence related training meeting for prison warders and training staff at Hotel Africana in Kampala.
Despite the involvement of police, judicial officers, social workers and medical workers in the various anti sexual and gender based violence programs by the Ministry of Gender and Social Development, the prison service has been found to be missing in such programs, for a quite a long time.
After realizing this this anomaly, the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Affairs has now embarked on strategies to integrate the prison service in such programs, considering their role in the rehabilitation and re-integration of offenders in society.
The Commissioner Gender and Women Affairs Angella Nakafero made the assurance while presiding over the opening of a four day sexual and gender based violence training workshop for prison staff at Hotel Africana.
According to statistics from the Ministry, sexual and gender based cases constitute 365 of all crimes reported in police, majority of these being related to defilement.
The Commissioner responsible for rehabilitation and re-integration in Uganda Prison Service Elizabeth Nanfuka highlighted the inadequate social workers in the service, who can easily deal with the problem.
Some of the prison instructors who are participating in the training said that that the training will facilitate their work.
The training is facilitated by the Great Lakes Regional Training Facility, with support from the German Government and the European Union.
