African Correctional Services Conference opens in Kampala

The second biennial conference of the African Correctional Services Association opened on 2 October 2012 at the Speke Resort Hotel, Munyonyo, Kampala, Uganda. The conference attracted 26 heads of correctional services from across the continent.

The Commissioner General of Uganda Prisons, Dr. JOR Byabashaiji, noted that Penal Reform and Kampala have been associated since 1996, when the Kampala Declaration on Prison Conditions was born. The theme of the conference is "Enhancing Community-responsive Correctional Service Delivery in Africa".

The chairperson of the African Correctional Services Association, Percy K. Chato, Commissioner of Prisons in Zambia encouraged delegates to explore best practices on the various issues addressed in the programme (see below).

Inmates from Kampala Women's Prison presented a song. Inmates from Upper Maximum Security Prison presented the Achioli dance from northern Uganda. Kampala women's prison also presented a dance from south-western Uganda.

Senior correctional officials from inter alia Nigeria, Chad, Tanzania, South Sundan, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Angola were in attendance. Delegates from inter alia Penal Reform International, Open Society Foundations Rights Initiative Global Criminal Justice Fund, and United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders (UNAFRI) were in attendance. Delegates froom CSPRI were also in attendance.

News and publications emanating from the conference can be found here.

The programme is advertised as follows:

2 October 2012:

Opening Ceremony

1. Enhancing access to justice across the criminal justice system: th experience of the Justice Law & Order Sector (Uganda)

2. Petrial Justice and Overcrowding: The impact of partnership witj civil society in Africa

3. Health and Human Rights Conditions in Prisons

3 October 2012

4. Popularising non-custodial and other conditional release measures

5. A holisitic approach to rehabiliation of offenders - the South African experience

6. Community involvement in the rehabiliation of offenders

7. Modernizing prison infrastructure - the African experience

8. Public Private Partnership (PPP) in developing prison infrastructure

9. Trends and phases of corrections in Africa

10. The transformation journey of Namibian Correctional Service: Achievements and Challenges

4 October 2012

Core members council

Non core members council

Field trips

5 October 2012

Conference Communique and Closing

5-6 October 2012

Special Africa Regional Workshop on Prison and Community based Rehabilitation Programmes and Best Practices (PRAWA)