Nkaissery wants prisoners engaged to work in development projects
What you need to know:
- The CS said he would make recommendations that will see the prisoners engaged in construction of roads so as to cut costs of maintaining them.
- Nkaissery said the government has been spending a lot of money to feed people who break the law and end up in jail.
- He said prisoners would also receive handouts after completion of their sentences to help them begin life afresh back home.
- He promised to come up with a programme to improve the facilities.
Prisoners will no longer eat free meals while serving their sentences in prison, Internal Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery has said.
The Cabinet secretary said he would recommend that prisoners work in constructing roads so as to cut the costs of maintaining them.
Addressing prisoners during his first tour of prisons in the country at Malindi Prison on Sunday, Maj-Gen (rtd) Nkaissery said the government was spending a lot of money to feed people who break the law and end up in jail.
He said the government would now engage them in serious development activities that were previously done by "graders".
“I will make recommendations prisoners will no longer eat free in prisons, they will be building roads,’’ he said.
He said prisoners would also receive handouts after they complete their sentences to help them begin life afresh back home.
The CS told the prisoners to take advantage of the vocational training they received in prison.
He said the government was also keen on transforming prisons in order to make conditions better.
For many years, there have been reports of poor living and working conditions in prison.
The Cabinet Secretary was accompanied by Malindi MP Dan Kazungu, Coast Regional Prison Commissioner Samuel Kilele and other senior security personnel from the region.
He familiarised himself with the operations at the prison and was briefed on issues that needed to be addressed.
IMPROVE PRISON FACILITIES
Top among them are the upgrading of the facilities for the prisoners, including where the remandees stay.
He came face-to-face with the way more than 100 remandees live in a tiny confined room with very little ventilation.
Most of them had taken off their shirts because of the extreme heat and stayed close together in the congested area.
He promised to come up with a programme to improve prison conditions.
The CS, however, warned the remandees to avoid making the same mistakes that brought them to jail as they had better roles to play in the society.
“We shall deal with the issue of improving the conditions of the prisons,’’ he said.
The CS said he would continue touring all prisons to inspect them and see their conditions.
MP Dan Kazungu said officials would soon request that prisoners help in cleaning up the town to make it a better place for tourists.
