The system of Convict Warders was instituted in the prisons as a move to assist in producing that esprit de corps which was necessary to good discipline. It was hoped that with a stricter discipline which will be rendered possible on the completion of the new jail at Luzira, on the one hand, and the spread of Christian Education on the other, a healthy moral consciousness will be formed which will be a very strong deterrent to wrong doing in these child races of Central Africa. (Uganda Protectorate 1928: 15)
According to the Prisons Report for 1927, disciplined and intelligent convicts, who had shown evidence of transformation in character were seconded as ‘Convict Warder’ to assist the Warders to maintain law and order within the prisons. Transformed convicts became human resources operating within the confines of the prison. The Commissioner further reported that the employment of convicts as clerks was due to shortage of clerical staff; however, it had proved unsatisfactory and was discontinued (Uganda Protectorate 1929: 8-9).
The prisons had a curriculum of training that was ostensibly designed ‘to help prisoners to acquire a trade that will enable them to earn an honest livelihood on their release’ (Uganda Protectorate 1913: 3-5). At the same time, skilling the prisoners made their labour a cheap economic resource. One may speculate that the prisoners benefited only coincidentally, as their improvement was not the primary aim of the prison curriculum. Ostensibly, the earnest desire of all was the reclamation of the prisoners from degradation and vice to a life of usefulness and self-respect. However, as Hynd (2015: 250) writes, colonial prisons had ‘…a conscious strategy to constrain bodies rather than discipline minds, serving to bolster the authority of colonial administrations and facilitating colonial economies rather than primarily to rehabilitate offenders.
After World War I, the Colonial government continued entrepreneurial training and skill development in the prison curriculum. According to the annual reports, prisoners’ labour was directed towards the following: tailoring, carpentry, brick-making, basket-making, mat-making, swamp and drain clearing, planting, stone-breaking and general domestic duties such as upkeep of police and prison warders lines, and assistance to the Municipality (Uganda Protectorate 1925: 5).
The tailoring industry at the prisons repaired tents and produced khaki mail bags, specie bags, mattress covers, canvas chaguls and canvas mail bags. Clothing included khaki suits, pants, coats, armlets, caps, canvas capes, female prisoners’ uniforms, and other garments including blue overalls. The prisons were perceived as a source of revenue for the protectorate government. The Commissioner reported that this industry alone had saved the Government £1,300 in the year 1924. The estimated savings to the government by the carpentry industry was £150, for basket-making it was Shs. 1,136/-. The labour value of swamp and drain clearing was Shs. 2,504/70 /- (Uganda Protectorate 1925:6).
Extramural convict labour was employed on farming, afforestation, anti-malarial work and utility work on the township (Uganda Protectorate 1935: 6). The hours of labour were 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and each prisoner was to dig one hundred and twenty square yards (Uganda Protectorate 1944). In the period following World War I, prisons experienced an upsurge in the number of admissions. The rise was commensurate to the labour demand for the post-war recovery programme, which aimed at increasing productivity of agricultural raw materials for the home industry. These reports on the details of work, production and value indicate that the prison was a hub for mobilizing cheap, regular and reliable labour for the colonial administration and economy.