Prison decongestion efforts reap rewards

Petty offenders celebrate after their release from Nakuru GK Prisons on October 22, 2016 following a presidential decree. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • It costs approximately Sh250 to feed a prisoner daily, without including other costs such as clothing and accommodation.
  • An inter-ministerial committee has been meeting to come up with ways of having petty offenders put under community service.

An accountant who was found guilty of financial misappropriation was granted a non-custodial sentence and directed to assist a number of schools to prepare their books of accounts.

After completing a nine-month sentence, the schools, having appreciated his work, employed him.

Similarly, a lawyer who was sentenced to draft appeals for prisoners found it fit to continue with his new found job even after completing his sentence, after finding the punishment rewarding.

In another instance, a group of women sentenced at the Machakos Law Courts to engage in conservation work chose to prepare tree seedlings and ended up embracing the venture, turning it into a full-time career.

These are some of the positive outcomes that the efforts to decongest prisons through non-custodial sentences have achieved, especially in the case of petty offenders and now plans are being made to scale up the initiative.

CRIMINALS

High Court Judge Luka Kimaru, who is the chairman of the Community Service Orders programme, says the initiative intends to ensure the family unity continues and encourage integration and reconciliation with the offended community, where the offender will be going back to after serving the sentence.

The Criminal Justice System Audit Report published in 2017 estimated that every two years, more than four million people end up being arrested and detained.

Thirty-two per cent of these arrests are converted into charges in court.

However, 70 per cent of these charges are related to petty offences.

SUPERVISED
The Community Service Orders Act was enacted by Parliament in 1998 for purposes of addressing challenges in Kenyan prisons, especially congestion.

The penal institutions are currently holding 55,000 prisoners against a capacity of 32,000.

Prior to the law coming to force, the country had Extramural Penal Employment, commonly referred to as 'kifungo cha nje', but it was found not to be effective because it was not supervised by an assigned officer and there was no method of confirming whether the punishment was effective.

The public did not feel those sentenced in this manner were paying back to the society for what they did, hence enactment of the CSO Act, which has more robust provisions.

The petty offender is supervised by a CSO officer and a report prepared before sentencing, establishing suitability of the offender to serve under CSO.

“Studies have shown that, by the time a petty offender who is the breadwinner leaves prison, his wife and children will have relocated to the rural home for lack of money to pay rent.

"While there, the wife may end up getting re-married. This demonstrates that the imprisonment may occasionally have serious repercussions to the family, which is one of the issues we seek to address,” Justice Kimaru said.

FAMILY
Chapter 45(1) of the Constitution provides that the family is the natural and fundamental unit of society and a necessary basis of social order; and shall enjoy the recognition and protection of the State.

Atiang Mitullah, the national coordinator CSO programme, says that other studies have shown that when the petty offenders are sent to jail with hardcore criminals, they may come out worse than they were, having learnt other undesirable things.

“However, in case a petty offender goes against the CSO order, he or she may be taken back to court for the judge to exercise the option of sending such a person to prison,” Mr Mitullah, who is also a magistrate, says.

Section three of the CSO Act provides that it applies to persons whose offence is punishable by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years.

LABOUR

The offender is subjected to unpaid public work within a community for the benefit of that community, but for a period not exceeding the term of imprisonment.

“The beauty about it is that you pay back to the society. We have work sites established in various parts of the country and we have entered into agreements with governors where the offenders can work in cattle dips and schools, among others,” Justice Kimaru says.

Mr Mitullah says the programme has greatly reduced the amount the government would have spent on petty offenders had they been sent to prison.

It costs approximately Sh250 to feed a prisoner daily, without including other costs such as clothing and accommodation.

An inter-ministerial committee involving the police, Director of Public Prosecutions, courts and the probation department has been meeting to come up with ways of having petty offenders put under the CSO.

The petty offenders subjected to community service must agree to the arrangement as an alternative to serving their sentence in prison.

In 2017, a total of 37,700 offenders were placed under CSO across the country.