Article 23: Life Skills, Purpose, and Hope: Making Re-Entry Successful (ACJ20-A023) by Edward Ahimbisibwe, Rosemary Ricciardelli and James Kisambu
Abstract
The Uganda Prisons Service oversee 269 prisons within the country. The prisons, although housed in a Low-Income-Country, are structured to provide opportunities for prisoners to grow, learn skills, and prepare to re-enter society as law abiding contributing members of their communities. In the current article, we speak to how the service accomplishes their objective, highlighting their low recidivism rate of 13.4% in 2025, the diverse programs offered, and how these programs are enacted. We then explain how it is possible to do more with less resources and tight budgets, highlighting how the service invests in all the available human resources – including people who are incarcerated – to give all value, purpose, and hope.