Nairobi — The Government has admitted that the inmate population in the country far outweighs the capacity of prisons.

The total capacity of the prisons is 16,000 but 43, 393 people are behind bars, which is almost triple the required number, Minister in the Office of the Vice-President Mrs Linah Kilimo said

Kilimo was answering a question by Mukurweini MP Mutahi Kagwe (Narc) who had sought to know the total number of prisoners in the country.

He had also asked how many of the inmates were considered hardcore cases, which Kilimo pegged at 20,179. The minister said convicts were regarded as hardcore criminals if they were imprisoned more than once.

There are 89 prisons, two borstal institutions and one youth corrective training centre.

Kagwe said the total was enormous and lamented that the prisoners continued to eat food paid for by the tax payers "while they do nothing."

He wondered: "Why can't the prisoners be utilised in the repair of roads and other activities instead of being sustained on taxpayers' money for nothing in return?"

On the congestion, Kilimo said the Government had enacted the Community Service Order Act to have those jailed for petty offences serve their sentences out of prison.

She caused a stir in the Kanu bench when she said most prisoners were jailed before the Narc Government took over. She added that due to corruption in the Judiciary, some petty offenders were jailed by mistake.

Moyale legislator Dr Guracha Galgalo demanded to know why the minister had not requested the President to pardon the innocent prisoners.

"All those prisoners were jailed through some court ruling and we have to look at their cases before making any recommendations to the President," said the minister.

Kilome MP Mutinda Mutiso (Narc) asked why the Government could not open courts at the prisons to hear some cases.

Kilimo said doing so would be more expensive than buying vehicles to transport the prisoners to court.

She further informed the House that they were in the process of buying buses to enable prisoners travel to the court in comfort.

Kagwe also asked what measure were being taken to make rehabilitation of prisoners more serious. "The state of the Kenyan prisons is so bad that when an innocent person goes in, he or she comes out a hardened criminal," he said.

Kilimo said the rehabilitation was already on course adding that warders would be trained for nine months as opposed to the previous six months.