---

---

Kenya: Private Jailers Could Help Ease the Crisis Facing Prison System

Oliver Mathenge

2 May 2008

---

Nairobi — The recent strike by prison warders exposed challenges facing the department and calls for urgent measures to put the facilities in order.

Authorities should explore ways to prevent overcrowding and improve working conditions for the staff.

The Government has over several years passed over the running of certain services to private companies as a way of enhancing efficiency.

These include water and waste management, street lighting, parking, public transport and railway services.

Plans have also been in the offing to concession the road network and the port of Mombasa. The move is aimed to improve service delivery.

Improve security

With the recent strike by warders revealing deplorable conditions under which the officers operate, the Government may as well explore the possibility of privatising prison services.

Countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Canada, Puerto Rico and South Africa use privately run prison facilities.

Privatisation of correctional centres is at times preferred in some of the countries because they provide superior infrastructure, improved security and better living conditions for offenders.

The prisons are also said to offer better rehabilitation programmes compared to public ones.

Various studies have shown that the private jails offer superior programmes that focus on education, offending behaviour, healthcare and training on basic and independent living skills.

The US was the first country to engage the services of private jailers followed by Australia and the UK.

South Africa is the only country with privately-run prisons in Africa.

Since the early 1990s, British governments have issued contracts to private firms for both the construction and the day-to-day running of prisons.

The first private remand prison in the UK is the Wolds which was opened in 1992.

G4S Securicor Group is among companies that offer rehabilitation, resettlement and electronic monitoring of offenders in the UK and the US.

About 30 of the 50 states in the US hire the services of Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, a leading firm in the rapidly developing market founded in 1984.

It manages 55 prisons in the UK, US, Australia, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand.

In the UK, the company operates an immigration detention centre at Gatwick airport and manages four prisons. In England and Wales, all prisoner-escort services have been contracted out to private companies. Prison education, catering, health care and construction work are put out to tender.

In the new development, private companies can be hired to provide correctional services, such as drug rehabilitation and job training. Just as a bank might hire a security company to guard its assets, the prison service hires a company to staff, train, and lead prison staff.

There is also operational privatisation, a system in which a private company is contracted to run an entire prison.

Governments provide policy guidelines and monitor the contractor's performance, but the day to day business of running the prison is left to the private company.

A private company may also be contracted to build or finance construction of prisons. On financing, the firm can construct the prison and then rent it out to the government.

However, experts warn that there is no such thing as a fully-privatised prison. Such services cannot be entirely turned over to the private sector because jails are part of the justice system.

A South African study notes that most private prisons were set up with aim of boosting service delivery.

South Africa

Just like in Kenya, the study adds that the prisoners in South Africa are kept in substandard conditions which violate rights guaranteed to them by the constitution.

The study asks governments to come up with law on management of private prisons.

Use of private prisons in South Africa guided by the country's Correctional Services Act of 1998 (CSA 1998) which allows the government to hire private jailers.

The law states in part: "The Minister may, subject to any law governing the award of contracts by the State, with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Public Works, enter into a contract with any party to design, construct, finance and operate any prison or part of a prison established or to be established."

But the contracts cannot exceed 25 years.

The contractor is responsible for enforcing the sentences of the courts, detaining prisoners in safe custody, ensuring inmates' dignity, and promoting the human development of all prisoners.

The first private prison in South Africa was opened at Bloemfontein in July 2001, and the second at Louis Trichardt in 2002. But even as this suggestion is floated the government must ready itself for campaigns against the move as experienced in the US, UK and Australia.

Those opposed to privatisation, argue that governments are the only institutions mandated to jail their citizens.

Others reckon that most of the companies may concentrate more on increasing efficiency and making profits at the expense of rehabilitation of inmates.

However, other studies show that public and private prisons can complement each other. "Establishment of private prisons has helped calculate the actual cost of imprisonment," states one such study on privatisation of prisons in South Africa.

The study also suggests outsourcing of prison services. For example, if a government contracts drug rehabilitation services, the contractor is expected to concentrate on his area of expertise.

This can often deliver better value than employed internal 'experts'. This also means that an outsourcing partner exposes the government to expert knowledge. Others supporting the venture argue that prisons should be considered more as correctional facilities rather than dens of punishment. Private prisons are also said to be better equipped to stem substance abuse and counsel prisoners.

There is also a strong focus on education and most private prison facilities offer a range of programmes, including vocational training.

In the UK, government contracts private firms in other sensitive security areas.

For instance in Wales, G4S Justice Services- part of G4S Securicor- was asked to take over complete management of all custody suite functions, including detainee welfare, finger printing, DNA sampling and drug testing on charge.

Read comments. Write your own.

---