Kenneth Ogosia
11 May 2008
Nairobi — The failure by the judiciary to hand petty offenders non-custodial sentences has largely contributed to the congestion in Kenya's prisons.
In 2006 alone, 361,803 petty offenders were locked up and 208,220 of were convicted and jailed.
A report by the Ministry of Home Affairs, under which the Prisons Service falls, indicates that the 90 jails countrywide, which have a capacity of 16,000 inmates, are holding more than 59,000.
By April last year, there were 27,760 convicted inmates and 31,301 remandees above the establishments' capacity.
"The Kenya Prisons Service has grown gradually since its inception in 1911, when we had 30 prisons and 319 staff members drawn from the Kenya police. The inmate population was only 6,559 and currently there are 90 penal institutions and an inmate population of 59,000," the report says. Kenya has 16,099 prison officers. The recommended figure is 18,210 officers. The civilian staff in the jails total 319 instead of the recommended 508.
Currently, the staff-prisoner ratio in is 1:16 against the internationally recommended ratio of 1:5. Out of the 59,000 inmates countrywide, 27,093 are convicts.
The condemned prisoners total 3,283 while those who have not been convicted total 31,907. Those on life imprisonment are 360 while those serving less than a year's term are 28,128.
The large number of unconvicted inmates has strained the prisons' facilities, resulting in health and security concerns. Of the convicted prisoners, about 15,141 may qualify for Community Service Orders (CSO) programme.
Children accompanying their mothers in prison total 274 while the unconvicted minors in prisons are 667.
By March 2007 there were 36 cancer patients among the prisoners and 1,207 living with HIV. There were 195 mentally ill inmates, 150 of whom are admitted at the Mathare Mental Hospital in Nairobi.
The report recommends that the police and the judiciary explore non-custodial alternatives to imprisonment. It recommends affordable bonds, bails and conditional discharge. The judiciary should also speed up the hearing of cases, including appeals.
According to the report, by last year, Kenya had 1,469 inmates convicted or remanded for murder, 9,073 for robbery and 2,156 for rape. There were 7,768 convicted drug dealers, 2,500 child defilers and another 338,837 inmates jailed for other offences.
The Ministry of Home Affairs wants the Directorate of Personnel Management to approve risk allowance in view of the conditions the prisons officers work in. The salaries of the officers were last reviewed in 2004. Inadequate funding has affected the service. Training and improvement of the scheme of service, telecommunications and chaplaincy services, which require Sh320 million, are largely underfunded.
To increase the capacity of the Prisons Staff Training College (PSTC) to train a prisons staff, the ministry requires Sh2.1 billion to complete Phase II and III of the construction of physical facilities and provision of equipment project.
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