KIRINYAGA, Kenya May 8 -The government will Spend Sh1billion to modernize prison workshops to promote industrialization and enhance the production of quality products.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki on Monday May 8 said the plan was aimed at making the correction facilities conducive for rehabilitation, empowerment and preparation of inmate for reintegration into the society when they are out of prison.
“We will be providing Mwea prison and other prisons across the country with modern workshop equipment to the tune of Sh1 billion to make sure that our prisons become a place for rehabilitation and empowerment,” he said.
While affirming the government’s commitment to the prison reforms agenda, Kindiki pointed out that the move will help the country’s prison industry match with the modern workshops.
The Kenya Prisons Service (KPS) has not been able to fully undertake rehabilitation of prisoners due to shortage of funds for vocational training and skills development in various fields.
According to experts, without proper rehabilitation, the prisoners risk getting caught up in a vicious cycle of reoffending, reconviction and social rejection.
The CS added that they were also decongesting the prisons across the country and also intended to improve the welfare of prisoners. The government will partner with the private sector to ensure the success of the ‘One Prisoner, One bed, One mattress’ initiative.
“We will partner with the private sector and well-wishers to ensure that in the next few months every prisoner in this country will have one bed and one mattress,” Kindiki said.
The CS was speaking yesterday at Mwea GK Prison in Kirinyaga County where he emphasized the need to upgrade the outdated equipment in the country’s prisons.
The government will also mechanize the prisons farms counytrywide, utilizing the 9,000acres of arable land to enhance food security in the country.
As a result, the government will spend a further Sh2billion to improve the productivity of prison farms in the course of this year.
The CS added that every prisoner will be provided with two pairs of uniforms to help them live with dignity.
“Prisons should not be hell. It should be a place of reforms and rehabilitation. Most of the inmates are young people, and we look forward to you leaving prisons, reformed appropriately, so that you participate in nation-building,” Kindiki stated.
Kindiki revealed that the National Trask force on Police and Prisons Reforms led by Chief Justice (Rtd) David Maraga will submit its report later this month and that the government will execute the recommendations to improve the prison system.
“In five years, there will be a great improvement in the welfare of our prisoners, remandees, and prison officers,” the CS said.
The prisons are to be decongested by 50 per cent and the ministry will engage the Judiciary and other stakeholders to facilitate the process.
This comes as the Economic Survey 2023 revealed that the total number of inmates increased from 160,121 in 2021 to 169,579 in 2022.
The Prisons Service has in the past initiated a raft of measures to decongest the facilities after the institutions more than doubled the required accommodation capacity exposing the inmates to inhabitable conditions and social ills like sodomy.
The occupational capacity of the prisons is 28,000 inmates.
The predicament of overstretched social amenities notably beds and toilets risk predisposing them to possible epidemic outbreaks.
The department has also been engaged in speeding up justice system through a multi-agency team including alternative justice systems.
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