Kenyans urged to embrace ex-convicts

Kenyans have been advised against shunning former prisoners, who often find it hard to settle back in the society after serving their sentences.

Henry Kisingu, a senior assistant commissioner of prisons in charge of the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, on Wednesday said prisoners do change and they need to be given a chance to reform.

“Let us stop labelling prisoners, because human beings can change. They have skills which can benefit the society,” he said during a prisoners’ graduation ceremony held at the prison.

President Uhuru Kenyatta pardoned 27 prisoners from Kamiti after they were proved to have reformed.

During the ceremony, 67 prisoners serving long sentences graduated after a three-month training on disaster preparedness and first aid skills.

Mr Kisingu said the training, which was facilitated by St John Ambulance, is very important as it can save lives.

“The training is one of the benefits of prison reforms in the country. This prepares them for reintegration in the society since they get something positive to give back,” he said.

PRISON REFORMS

He said inmates have benefited from the ongoing reforms in the prison department, which include allowing prisoners to sit for national examinations.

The unnamed prisoner, who scored 381 marks in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination, joined the Kamiti Main Prison Academy, which currently has 200 learners, he said.

The disaster preparedness training was started in 2006 by 70-year-old prisoner David Muriuki Ngari, who is serving life in prison, before St John Ambulance joined to support the project.

The former military man had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment by then President Mwai Kibaki in August 2009 and has since been teaching his peers life skills like firefighting, rescue operations and first aid.

During the graduation ceremony inmates demonstrated vital emergence rescue skills and were issued with certificates.

OVERCROWDING

According to St John Ambulance, the initiative came at a time when the latest report by the Kenya Prison Services indicates that over 1,714 inmates have died from health emergencies over the past five years.

St John Ambulance Chief Executive Officer Albert Ruturi said the organisation plans to roll out the training to all prisons in the county and also involve warders.

According to St John, there are 56,000 inmates in 118 correctional facilities in Kenya. The official capacity of prisons is 27,000, meaning the correctional institutions are overcrowded buy 200 per cent.

Mr Ruturi said the overcrowding exposes inmates to health-related emergencies that have contributed to deaths over the years.

The largest number of inmate deaths was reported in 2013, when 623 males and nine females died, the organisation said.