In order to make room for the growth of urban centers, President William Ruto has instructed the Interior and Housing Ministries to relocate prisons in towns.
Dr. Ruto has encouraged the ministries to create master plans that would create new, roomy jails to house the rising prison population and free up space in big cities that already have the facilities.
The Kenya Prison Service manages 108 prison facilities, of which 18 are for women, 87 are for male criminals, and 3 (two borstal institutions and one youth corrective training center, or YCTC) are for juvenile male offenders.
“To solve the problem of overcrowding in our prisons, free up land in urban centres for critical public services and provide more space to accommodate prison population and raining facilities,” Dr Ruto said during the Prisons Service Training College pass-out parade last month.
“The Cabinet Secretaries responsible for Interior and Public Works have been instructed to urgently develop a Prisons Masterplan which will be used to identify and develop new prison sites.”
The majority of the nation’s correctional facilities and jails are situated in crowded urban areas, which limits their ability to grow as the population of prisoners increases.
For instance, Nairobi has three maximum jails and three more short-sentence institutions scattered among the city’s industrial zone and housing developments.
The other prisons in the nation are located in significant cities and county seat locations. According to President Ruto, alternative land should be found to provide additional room for the prison population and their training facilities.
“This will provide ample opportunities to impart necessary skills, training and education through correctional services in the spirit of rehabilitation and reform,” he said.
The population in prisons are beyond their capacity with most of the facilities constructed during the colonial period and a few after independence.
The 2022-2023 Economic survey released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicated that the total number of inmates increased from 160,121 in 2021 to 169,579 in 2022 with 60.8 percent being remandees.
Dr Ruto said to correct and rehabilitate offenders; the country needs prisons with new centres that host training facilities to help prisoners acquire new skills.
“In particular, the rehabilitation and correction framework focus on reform, re-direction as well as the empowerment of prisoners for effective social participation,” he said.
The Prisons Department has been allocated Sh31.3 billion, with Sh377 million going for projects in the 2023-24 budget.
