Masaka High Court Circuit Plea Bargaining Prisons Camp Kicks Off
Stakeholders at the Masaka Plea Bargaining Session
The Masaka High Court Plea Bargaining Prisons Camp kicked off with at least 130 cases set to be handled. Out of these, 109 are capital cases and 21 are petty offences.
The session was kicked off by the Plea Bargaining focal judge, Hon. Lady Justice Jane Okuo Kajuga, who represented the Principal Judge.
She conveyed the Principal Judge's greetings and emphasized that Plea Bargaining is for only those that committed the offences they are accused of and encouraged the inmates to embrace the initiative.
Commissioner Custodial Services at the Uganda Prisons Services, Mr Baker Asinja, who represented the Commissioner General of Prisons, shared statistics on the prison population.
He noted that the current total number of inmates in Masaka prisons is 1,035 and out of these only 310 are convicts.
He went on to thank the Chief Justice and the Judiciary leadership for introducing and promoting Plea Bargaining which he said had helped ensure the prisoner ratio stands at51:49 for convicts and remands. Out of a total of 70,703 inmates countrywide,36,476 are convicts while 34,530 are remand prisoners.
The Masaka Senior Resident Judge, Hon. Lady Justice Victoria Katamba Nakintu, noted that since2020, the Circuit has handled 417 cases (capital and petty offences) through Plea Bargaining.
The Assistant Director of Public Prosecution, Ms Margaret Nakigudde, who also doubles as the focal Plea Bargaining Officer at the ODPP and the Masaka Regional ODPP Officer, Ms. Jennifer Amumpire, led the prosecution team.
Posted 12th, September 2022
