A plea for decongestion by Dr Stella Nyanzi

Image of Stella Nyanzi via global voices
Image of Stella Nyanzi via global voices

On the floors of the wards of Luzira Women Prison
Women sleep as congested as firewood neatly stacked.
Petty crime and debt – none is here for treason.
The injustices of our justice system leave us fucked.
Some sleep on dirty thin slices of prison mattresses.
Some sleep on one half of their prison blankets.
Some sleep on the hard concrete floor buttresses.
There’s no distinction between convicts and suspects.

On the hard cold floor of Ward Two
My thighs press hard onto one’s arse.
My arse presses hard into another’s thighs.
This sequence of adult thighs pressing adult arse
Is repeated in two rows of 30 women each.
Adult thighs pressing adult arse.
Adult arse pressing adult thighs.
Adult thighs pressing adult arse.
Adult arse pressing adult thighs…
If fighters of sodomy in Uganda cared at all
They would start by decongesting the prison
Starting with Luzira Women Prison!

From left to right: Dr Stella Nyanzi, Nana Darkoa, Moses Kilolo and Zukiswa Wanner after a panel discussion at Writivism 2015
From left to right: Dr Stella Nyanzi, Nana Darkoa, Moses Kilolo and Zukiswa Wanner after a panel discussion at Writivism 2015

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