RWAMAGANA - The President of the High Court has said that detainees in prisons should be considered as people with individual rights.

Johnston Busingye made the remarks over the weekend while addressing about 160 Prison Warden Cadet trainees in Duha training centre, Rwamagana district.

The trainees are expected, after three months of training, to work with the Rwanda Correctional Services.

Busingye emphasized that there is need for mentality change about how prisons are managed and how prisoners are regarded.

"Colonial prison managers saw prisons as stores and considered themselves as storekeepers,” he said, stressing that the old mentality regarded prisons as only a mass of nameless suspects and convicts.

He urged the trainees that once they pass out, they should always consider themselves as actors of change for the detainees and work as their spokespersons, ensuring that their rights are respected.

"It is very important to know that you are defenders of these people,” he told trainees, reminding them that each prisoner is entitled to dignity, certain rights and freedoms.

"You need to be able to transform them into good citizens.”
The prime objective of the prisons, according to Busingye, should be to make sure that those leaving the detention facilities are given a handful package of theoretical and practical training and advice that will allow them to become good and creative citizens.

"They should leave prison with hope to a future,” he said.

The lecture which centred on the collaboration between prisons and the judiciary also emphasized on the responsibilities of the courts which, according to Busingye, include access to justice by all citizens and ensuring that nobody is above the law.

Trainees were also reminded to be law abiding and spread this culture into the prisoners so that they become good agents of transformation.

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