Factors that hinder female recidivists from resettling into their various communities after imprisonment in Kenya: a case study of Thika Women Prison

Field: Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

The global trend is that more women are incarcerated than men in most countries of the world. The international norms and standards for criminal justice and for the treatment of offenders do not adequately reflect the requirements of women and this needs to be modified. As women constitute only a small but steadily growing minority in the prison population their particular/ circumstances and needs are often overlooked by prison regimes designed for male prisoners. The main objective of this study was to find out the community factors that influence long-term resettlement of the female ex-offenders into the community. The research questions were derived from the specific objectives of the study which included cultural, social, economic and demographic factors. The literature review was intensively done to compare the related works done by others and to identify knowledge gaps that would need to be filled by this study. \n \nThe research adopted exploratory design. According to Bless and Smith (2004) the purpose of exploratory research is to gain a broad understanding of a situation, phenomenon, community or person. The research was both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The qualitative aspect was used when analyzing the open ended questions from the questionnaires, one on one interview questions and those from the Focus Group Discussions. The quantitative approach was used to generate information from the closed ended questions from the questionnaire. To confirm who the real the recidivists were, secondary data was obtained from the courts, police and prisons records. The sampling method was purposive and covered 50 respondents who formed half of the target population at the time of the research. Methods of data collection included structured questionnaires, FGDs and one on one interviews. The data was presented and interpreted using tables, graphs charts frequencies and percentages. \n \n It was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel. The findings of the study revealed that 70% of the respondents were youths and unemployed. Majority of the offenders possessed low levels of education with 46% having gone up to primary level while only 6% possessed college level qualifications. The offenders were never visited and were considered as outlaws by their counterparts in the community. The research established that their marital status were affected by imprisonment with the results of the indicating that during the first imprisonment only 36% were married but after the second imprisonment the number dropped to 18%. \n \nAlso after the first imprisonment, most recidivists could not fmd husbands as 56% admitted that it was not easy to get a husband once they were discharged from prisons since nobody was willing to marry 'outcasts'. After completion of their first sentence, 68% of the recidivists could not go back by their former employment. The study concluded that some of the recidivists lost their marriages when they were sent to prison while others were not able to get husbands from the community as a result of the perception, stigma and stereotype attached to female imprisonment. It was also concluded that rehabilitation programs offered to the prisoners were not as effective since they focused more on offering technical knowledge and manual work. \n \nThe research came up with a number of recommendations which included introduction of free secondary education for the girl child in order to ensure that the females do not get influenced into criminal activities. To adopt in-between homes where the ex-offenders can make temporary stop-over for the purpose of community re-integration and before joining the wider community after completion of prison sentences; impart entrepreneurial and life skills on the recidivists during rehabilitation and finally research should be done to find out whether there are post-prison follow-up services given to ex-offenders to help reintegrate them into the society. Further research in female imprisonment was deemed necessary to help in solving the problem of female recidivism.