ADMINISTRATION OF THE KENYA PRISONS ORGANIZATIONPeter Kimani Ndung’u＊

I. BACKGROUND OF THE KENYA PRISONS SERVICE—EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The prisons system was introduced in Kenya by the British East Africa protectorate with theenactment of East Africa Prisons Regulations in April, 1902. At independence, the reforms in the penal
system were strengthened with the enactment of chapters 90 and 92 to establish the Kenya Prisons, andAct (Cap 90) has since been reviewed, the last being 1977. The Borstal Act (cap 92) has also beenreviewed, the last being in 1967.
The Kenya Prisons Service has grown gradually since its inception on 1 April 1911. At inception theprisoners’ population stood at six thousand five hundred and fifty-nine (6,559) with a staff strength of threehundred and nineteen (319). To-date there has been a gradual increase in both staff and prisoner population. There are 107 penal institutions, two Borstal institutions and one youth corrective Training Centre inthe Republic with inmate population averaging 54,000. A girls’ correction centre will also be opened during
this year. These institutions are coordinated under Prisons Regional Commanders who are answerable tothe commissioner General of Prisons based at Prisons Headquarters, Nairobi.
A. Organizational Structure of the Prisons
The Kenya Prisons Service is headed by a Commissioner General of Prisons assisted by a Deputy Commissioner General of Prisons. Under them are Assistant Commissioner General, Senior Deputy Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner of Prisons, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Prisons, Assistant Commissioner of Prisons, Senior Superintendent of Prisons, Superintendent of Prisons, chief inspectors, inspectors,
senior sergeants, sergeants, corporals and constables.
The service is also supported by a civilian cadre of officers who are professionals in their areas ofoperation. These are Chaplains and Sheikhs, Counselors/welfare officers, medical personnel, finance andprocurement personnel.
We have the following directorates that assist in effective governance of the prisons: Administrationand Finance; Inspection; Legal, Human rights research and statistics; Planning and Development; Rehabilitation, welfare and Chaplaincy; Industries and Farms; Medical unit; Complaints; Gender, sports and NGOs.
B. Mandate of the Kenya Prisons ServiceThe Prisons Act (CAP 90) empowers the prisons service to perform the following functions:1.		 Containment and safe custody of inmates
2.		 Rehabilitation and reformation of prisoners
3.		 Facilitation of administration of justice4.		 Controlling and training of young offenders in Borstal institutions and Youth Corrective Trainingcenters.
5.		 Provision of facilities for children aged between 4 years and below accompanying their mothers inprison.
Principal Chaplain, Kenya Prisons Service.

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The service is also guided by other acts including Criminal Procedure Act, Children’s Act and Mental
Health Act.
VisionA correctional service of excellence in Africa
MissionTo contain offenders in humane and safe conditions in order to facilitate responsive administration ofjustice, rehabilitation, social reintegration and community protection.
Motto
Kurekebisha na haki. (Rehabilitation and Justice)

II. EFFECTIVE TRAINING FOR THE PREVENTION OF MISCONDUCT—CORRUPTION, INAPPROPRIATE TREATMENT OF OFFENDERSThe KPS has endeavoured to overcome the cancer of corruption in the department by not only establishing an anti-corruption committee at the prisons headquarters that has also been replicated in thecounties and prison institutions but also adapted and domesticated other legal and regulatory frameworks
to eliminate corruption.
A corruption prevention policy and code of conduct and ethics for the department was launched in2009 which prevents corruption in all areas of service delivery. Sensitization of the same and formation ofanti-corruption committees in all levels of prison governance has brought about reduction of corruption
cases.
A. Other Legal Instruments Used to Promote Integrity
Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act 2003, Public Officers Ethics Act 2003, Prevention of Corruption Act, Prisons Standing Orders, Code of Regulations, Public Procurement and Disposal Act, Government
Financial Act 2004, Government performance contract. All these instruments are taken into account at all
training sessions in the department’s Training College.
B. Human Rights
KPS has launched a handbook on Human Rights in Kenya Prisons which was funded by the Embassyof Switzerland and the Institute of Education and Democracy. The handbook is intended for both male andfemale prisons personnel to aid them in their duties. It aims at developing a culture of respect for humanrights for prison staff and other agencies in the justice sector to fulfill the core mandate of rehabilitating
prisoners.
A permanent bill board enumerating the rights of prisoners and their duties has been erected in everyprison. This enables every officer and prisoner to know their rights and duties while in prison. These endeavours have improved the relationship between staff and inmates and created a conducive environment
for rehabilitation

III. PROMOTING INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION THROUGH TRAINING AND
SEMINARSThe KPS has extended its networks in ensuring the personnel working in it are well trained in skills
and knowledge to enable them to carry out their mandate effectively. Besides the government sponsoredtraining, KPS also partners with other stakeholders to empower the staff. These organizations include theRaoul Wallenberg Institute Institute of Education and Democracy.
KPS also has seconded its uniformed officers to work in the United Nations as Consultant Correctional
Officers in post-conflict African countries in reconstructing their prison systems, e.g., Liberia, Democratic
Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Somalia and the DPKO office in New York, USA.
KPS is also a critical member of the African Correctional Services Association (ACSA), International84

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Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA), United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crimeand the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFRI). The KPS Catholic Chaplaincy is also a member of the International Commission for Catholic Prisons Pastoral Care (ICCPPC)

IV. STRESS MANAGEMENT FOR CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS
The KPS has in its organizational structures a fully fledged directorate which is mandated to counseland accompany correctional officers in their work. This is the directorate of welfare and rehabilitation ofoffenders. It is constituted of chaplains, psychological counsellors, welfare officers who oversee the officers’
psycho/spiritual well-being. The officers also are entitled to leave breaks and compassionate leave when
they are believed to enable them to unwind and take up their work with ease.
i)		 Debriefing seminars, sports and motivational speakers’ sessions are some of the activities undertaken to ensure the officers, well-being is guaranteed.

V. SUCCESSION PLANNING
The KPS has developed a career progression plan for its officer to ensure there is a regime that does
not leave gaps in its rank and file. There is an established scheme of service for the uniformed officers anddraft scheme for the civilian cadre of chaplains and welfare The department makes a concerted effort toenhance capacity building with specific focus on professionalization of the service to improve service
delivery to the public. This has been done mainly by:i)		 Reorganizing training programmes on the basics of the curricular for all levels of training prisonsofficers which are used to deliver programmes that meet international standards.
ii)		 Engaging with a local university (Kenyatta University) to establish a centre for correctional andcriminal justice studies which offers certificates and diplomas in the same field.
iii) All this is geared towards professionalization of the department and succession management in theKenya Prison Service.

VI. CONTENTS AND METHODS OF TRAINING
A. Analysis of Current Offenders and Their Types
The Kenya Prison Service holds two categories of prisoners under different classifications as follows:
1. Non-convicted (Remands)➢ Ordinary Remands➢ Capital Remands➢ Robbery with violet Remands.
2. Convicted Prisoners➢ Young class-15 years old and below 21 years.
➢ Star class- First offenders and well behaved.
➢ Ordinary class- All convicted prisoners not in young and star class.
➢ Special- Death row convicts.
➢ Lifers-Serving life sentences➢ Civil Debtors.

VII. EFFECTIVE TRAINING CURRICULUMS FOR PREVENTION OF CRIMES
Rehabilitation and reformation of offenders is one of the core functions of the Kenya Prisons Service. It
comprises a number of various intervention mechanisms that are employed in varying degrees to provide
purposeful activities for prisoners, challenge their offending behaviours, provide basic education to tackle
illiteracy and equip them with life and work skills. In Kenya Prisons we have embarked on a number ofprogrammes to empower prisoners to achieve social rehabilitation as follows:85

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A. Vocational Training
This is offered to inmates in 60% of our institutions where we have developed various forms of apprenticeships such as upholstery, fashion and designs, tailoring, pottery, carpentry, metal work, welding, stone
calving, leather work, mat making, motor vehicle mechanism, number plates making, polishing, hair
dressing, modeling, farming, printing and building among others.
B. Educational Programmes
Primary School Education: Standard 1-8 (8-4-4 system)
Secondary School Education; Form 1-4 (8-4-4 system)
C. Professional Programmes
Certificates and diploma levels, e.g., I.C.T, Theology, and Accounts, secretarial
D. Guidance and Counselling
Prisons are comprised of professional workers who offer both social and psychological support toinmates in the form of group and individual counselling.
E. Spiritual Rehabilitation / Moral Formation
The prison department has employed spiritual workers from three distinct faiths: Roman Catholics,Protestants and Muslim to form the Chaplaincy whose responsibility is to offer spiritual nourishment toinmates and members of staff.

VIII. UNDERSTANDING AND RESPECTING THE RELATED INTERNATIONAL
STANDARDS NORMS
The Kenya Prisons Service has domesticated international instruments for Prisons management andgovernance. These include:
A. Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners
This convention addresses concerns of the UN for the humanization of Criminal Justice and the protection of human rights.
B. Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (Beijing Rules)
Youthful offenders in Kenya Prisons are detained in separate wards of prisons upon conviction awayfrom adults. We have youth correctional training centres, two Borstal institutions and an upcoming Borstalfor girls.
C. Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders(Bangkok Rules)
The Kenya Prisons Service has domesticated this rule by ensuring women in custody live in humaneconditions and are provided with basic needs for their hygiene. There is a lot of dependence on donors forthese hygiene provisions due to low budget allocations. Aged women have also been granted non-custodialsentences. In terms of budgetary support Kenya Prisons Service has granted enough resources to support
women’s prisons in Kenya.
D. Convention on the Rights of the Child
Children accompanying their mothers in prisons are granted special care and provisions for thechildren are guaranteed.
E. Safe Guards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death Penalty
Kenya still has death penalty in the penal code and therefore persons who commit capital offences arecondemned to death. KPS has set up structures that guarantee their dignity and has provided counsellors
and chaplains to accompany them during their incarceration time by providing psycho-spiritual counsellingto them. KPS also facilitates visits by their family members.

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F. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Throughout the World
G. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of PrisonersThis instrument is a comprehensive set of safeguards for the protection of the rights of persons who
are detained or imprisoned. Kenya Prisons Service applies this instrument by ensuring the officers aretrained on the principles and that attempts have been made to realize them in the institutions.
H. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
This is a course unit in our Prisons staff training college so that every officer whether at the initialtraining or development course is sensitized on the need to observe the human rights for all
I. Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners
KPS safeguards prisoners from the public and media while on transfer. This means providing themwith safe transport and escort by armed officers.
J. Other Instruments
Other instruments domesticated by KPS for good governance and effective treatment of offenders
include the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the African charter on Prisoners’ Rights.

IX. EFFECTIVE TRAINING METHODS
Kenya Prisons service has various modules of training that make the staff more effective and professional in carrying out their mandate of securing prisoners for the purpose of rehabilitation and reintegration back into society. These include: Development courses, International attachments, workshops andseminars.

X. CHALLENGES
The Kenya Prisons Service has its own share of challenges that threaten the expected output envisioned in its mandate. Chief among them include:
1.		 Overcrowding—the capacity of our prisons is only 20,000 prisoners but the current holding averages
between 50,000-55,000 inmates, both convicted and those awaiting cases to be concluded. This
result in overstretched physical facilities puts pressure on stores and services leading to unhygienic
conditions, and prisoners are not classified properly.
2.		 Insufficient professionals who can deal with specific criminogenic needs of prisoners. The service
does not have enough counsellors, psychiatrists, and psychologists who are well qualified to address
the special cases arising in prisons.
3.		 Delayed administration of justice.
4.		 Lack of sufficient health kits to cater for this big population.
5.		 Terrorism, drugs, piracy and radicalization in the prisons which have become a challenge to the rehabilitation programmes as this is a new phenomenon to the service.
6.		 Insufficient funding to cater for the training and rehabilitation programmes for the inmates. Thishas made many of them stay idle in prisons and some even leave the prisons worse than they camein.
7.		 Budgetary constraints—continued resource allocation to procure basic requirements is a serious impediment in the provision of quality service to clients.
8.		 Staff housing—most of the prison institutions have colonial age housing which by now are dilapidated, some share houses whose space is quite small and this has caused low morale on staff due to87

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poor housing.

XII. SOLUTIONS
1.		 The department embarks on decongesting the prisons by encouraging the judiciary to offer affordable bonds, commit petty offenders to community service, apply the prerogative of mercy act to theaged and those who have reformed and have served long terms.
2.		 Recruit professionals and classify inmates according to their criminogenic needs so that case management can be possible.
3.		 There is need for the government of Kenya to raise the budgetary allocation for the implementationof various programmes, supply enough medical kits, and improvement of infrastructure in theprisons so that there are humane conditions for all, prisoners and staff.
4.		 All state actors in the criminal justice system should work together to reduce custodial sentences
for petty offenders.
5.		 There should be well designed rehabilitation programmes for inmates with well qualified professionals to handle the programmes. Classification of prisoners should also be done.

XIII. CONCLUSION
The effectiveness of the treatment programmes for offenders largely depends on the skills andknowledge acquired by the officers who are working in correctional institutions. It is therefore ofparamount importance to ensure there is a collaborative effort to empower the officers, develop the right
network of partnerships, and develop a culture of continuous training of personnel on the emerging issues
according to international standards.
REFERENCES
1. Kenya Prisons Service: Strategic Plan 2005-2009.
2. Kenya Prisons Service: Handbook on Human rights in Kenya Prisons- Embassy of& Institute of
Education and Democracy, 2004.
3. Kenya Prisons Service: Benchmark Handbook for Prison Staff, 2009.
4. Kenya prisons: needs assessment for developing educational and vocational training programs forinmates in Kenya, 2009.
5. Economic survey 2015: Kenya Bureau of Standards.
6. Republic of Kenya, The prisons act, Government Printer, Nairobi, 1977.

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