The Uganda Prisons Service (UPS) has confirmed an incident in which their bus was attacked by rowdy youths, who beat up prison officers and vandalized the prison bus.
The confirmation came out on Sunday 21st April, 2024 following a viral video which shows a prison bus being vandalized by a dozen of angry locals mostly boda boda riders.
In a statement, the Prisons Service spokesman SCP Frank Mayanja Baine said the incident on 18th April 2024 at Bunyolwa Zirobwe in Luwero District was sparked by a youth who stole a mobile phone from one of the prisons staff, resulting into an arrest by prison officers.
According to Baine, the prisons officers had escorted a colleague Kato Fred at the burial of his late brother. Violence ensued when friends of the suspected thief attacked the prison bus (registered number UG0419U) in an attempt to rescue him as he was being ferried to the nearby police station.
In the video, the angry youths who waylaid the bus in a narrow village road, are seen exchanging blows with prison officers inside the bus before retreating in a celebratory mood. Others are seen smashing the body of the bus with blunt objects before the driver sped off with a smashed rear windshield.
SCP Baine notes that the matter was settled through negotiations and it was later agreed to the have local leadership meet the expenses of replacing the damaged windshield of the bus.
