Factors Supporting Women's Successful Reintegration: A Holistic Approach in Uganda (PID064)

2pm – 2.30pm EST, 19 February 2025 ‐ 30 mins

Parallel Workshops

This presentation will highlight the best practices and approaches in Uganda towards the Reintegration of Women Offenders.
The changing profile of women prisoners cuts across the age divide, with new sentencing guidelines in Uganda seeing more women being kept in prison for long sentences. Their reintegration needs are equally more challenging. This is largely because women are more disproportionately affected by imprisonment than men; Societal perception of women involved in the Justice system, Patriarchal systems that tend to lock out women from ownership of land and resources, and low levels of literacy present challenges for women to fit back in Society.
This paper will address the unique approaches used to foster improved reintegration outcomes for Women offenders; breaking the stereotypes; to increase access for released women to more gainful employment, decent accommodation, securing their property rights and building their resilience and desistance from crime.
Uganda Prisons prioritizes 4 pillars of Social Reintegration; Health, Employment/ Education, Living needs and Personal relationships and professional contacts.
The presentation will demonstrate the successful approaches by Uganda Prisons Service; preparing Women Prisoners for release, collaborations for continued support, and the impact of peer mentorship programs in post-release support.