WEST NILE – Joseph Etima, the former Commissioner General for Uganda Prisons Service has died.
Mr Caleb Alaka, the President for West Nile Foundation confirmed the death of the retired serviceman on Saturday June 23 night:
“He passed on today evening at Nakasero Hospital [in Kampala]” he said, adding that details of the funeral arrangements shall be shared in due course.
“The west Nile foundation has with deep shock learnt the death of Senior Citizen Commission General of Prisons Joseph Etima,” Mr Alaka said.
Etima joined the Prisons Services in 60s and rose to become the Commisioner General in 1988, a position he held for 17 years until he retired in 2005.
He has been commissioner with Uganda Human Rights commission (UHRC).
Etima who began his career in 1966 with the Uganda Prison Service as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Prisons, rose through the ranks serving as a Lecturer from 1967 to 1968, Deputy Commandant from 1968-1969 and Commandant from 1970 to 1973 of the Uganda Prisons Staff College and Training School according to UHRC website.
He was later promoted to a Regional Commissioner of Prisons, Jinja from 1975 to 1976.
He also held the post of Assistant Commissioner, Administrator General for a period of four months in 1988, before being prompted to Commissioner General of Prisons in the same year.
Mr. Etima therefore served as Chief Executive of the Uganda Prisons Service for close to two decades and gained tremendous managerial experience at senior level.
Having attained an Advanced Diploma in Penal Administration from Her majesty’s Prisons Staff College, Wakefield, U.K (1966) and Advanced Diploma in Prisons management from the Uganda Prisons Staff College and Training School among other qualifications, he mainstreamed human rights in the institution.
Key among other reforms included, introducing community service as an alternative punishment for offenders during his tenure.
