Freedom beckons for 30,000 inmates

More than half the 52,000 prisoners in Kenya could go home before the end of the year if President Kibaki accepts the recommendations of the Power of Mercy Committee.

Authorisation from the Department of Personnel Management, set up to spearhead reforms in the Prisons Department and implement the new Constitution, has been completed and sent to the President.

The permanent secretary in the Office of the Vice-President and Ministry of Home Affairs, Dr Ludeki Chweya, on Tuesday said that a majority of inmates languishing in jail have no business being there.

Dr Chweya said Kenya’s prisons were unnecessarily congested, hosting about 52,000 inmates when the capacity was only 22,000.

These inmates were gobbling up Sh9 million every day in taxpayers’ money.

The PS was speaking at a seminar for officials of the Power of Mercy Committee and other stakeholders at Mapango Beach Resort in Mombasa on Tuesday.

“We have inadequate resources. A better way to decongest our prisons is to get a more accountable process of granting pardons for these inmates. Half of them do not deserve to be behind bars and this committee is charged with reviewing applications for their release,” he said.

He blamed the congestion on faulty laws and lack of prudence among government officers.

“People should not be in prison for handling stolen goods or unknowingly committing a crime. Claiming that ignorance is no defence is unfair because some people commit offences without knowing, especially those who did not go to school,” he said.

He said some judges mete out unnecessarily long sentences, some of up to 20 years, when those inmates reform after only a short stint.

“Prisons are behaviour correctional centres, not warehouses to dump people. Some prisoners reform and completely change after serving only a few years. Some even become staunch religious people and even pastors. Now, why should you keep a man in jail who has reformed after three years and yet was sentenced to 10 years? Where is the rationale? He should go back home,” he said.

Dr Chweya said the elderly, sick and frail should be freed as they were no longer a danger to society.

The PS said reforms, including construction of dining halls in every prison, were continuing.