“Hail jail! The house for all. The only house where a government minister and a pickpocket dine together, work together and discuss matters on equal terms.” This powerful opening punch is by the late Mwangi Gicheru’s in his classic, Across the Bridge. Nelson Mandela had blown his wisdom on these words when after his 27 year old painful incarceration at the Robben Island famously concluded that a nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.
Prisons in Kenya are operationalized under the Prisons Act (Cap 90) and the Borstal Act (Cap 92) and plays a pivotal role in the Criminal Justice System, focusing on public safety and security. The key mandate is to provide safe custody and rehabilitation of persons in conflict with the law for reintegration back into society.
The Kenya Prisons system was introduced by the British colonial administration in 1902 with the enactment of the East Africa Prisons Regulations and gained autonomy in 1911. This history is very important for the penal reforms discourse because it gives the milestones upon which the prisons have strived to catch up with new trends in crime and rehabilitation.
The Kenyan prisons system were first established by the colonial regime to reincarnate, punish and crush any upheaval against their forced occupation and lording over Kenyans. The goal was to mute any rebellious voice that would be in contradiction of their dominion and scooping of materials and resources using unpaid labor by Kenyans, in fact the Kenyans had to pay the settlers and invaders for working for them through poll and hut tax.
While the current motto of Kenya prisons Service is Kurekebisha na Haki (Rehabilitation and Justice) indicating a shift from incarceration, vengeance, chastisement and censure, there is need to examine why the dream seems a mirage than a trophy in the offing. Indeed the leadership of Kenya Prisons Service deserve standing ovation for standing true to its motto. Having had visited and inspected prisons from mid 90s to date, I can attest there is a very huge difference fanned by a zeal to approach towards positivity in prison reforms albeit through tough challenges either infrastructure, policy and or regime support.
Infrastructure and its architectural design of all Prisons in Kenya is the biggest threat to all efforts in prison reforms. Some of the prisons in Kenya resemble dungeons unfit to carry out the noble task of rehabilitating offenders in a modern and civilized society. The Nairobi Remand and Allocation Prison (christened Inda) was established in 1911 while a clear marking emblazoned at the entrance of Machakos Prison indicates that it was started in 1928. Kamiti Maximum prison was started in 1955 and the list of Kenyans places of detentions indicates legal notices of those yesteryears. A detailed insight of this can be found at the official Kenya National Council for Law Reporting website.
Now, with a considerable list of prisons in Kenya dating back to a century or back, the sober question is to whether the same facilities were designed for rehabilitation or for containing and silencing Africans who were simply opposed to the colonial rule vis-à-vis rehabilitation. It is also important to take into consideration the population figures of that time and crime statistics of that time. For instance, according to available data, the population of Kenya in 1955 was approximately 6,980,000 million people when Kamiti Prison was established compared to todays (2025) estimated to be 57,532,493. If you can calculate the percentage growth, it’s too obvious that this is quiet high and we haven’t advanced the facilities exponentially so. The question of the intended architectural design again was not to provide facilities for rehabilitation and just slight creative and minimalistic alterations and modifications have taken place. It’s obvious that due to financial constraints, only little or minimalistic modifications have been done to be congruent with current dynamics.
There is need for Kenya through law and practice put in place a model prison based on current parameters including globally accepted best standards. For meaningful reforms to take place, there is an urgent need to have a professionally designed blue print with specific indications as to the minimal sizes of holding space including the cells, sanitary areas, training rooms, screening tools, prison officers quarters, offices, watch towers, segregation cells and other important areas within a prison.
Decongestion in prisons as a reforms issue can partially be achieved if all the pre-colonial and other non-conforming detention facilities are redesigned. A poorly designed or a converted prison facility overworks a prison officer who at times is forced to give output a couple of times of what is required. Similarly, poorly designed or obsolete prison with congestion problems will only exacerbate the problem associated with infections such as respiratory diseases, skin ailments and be a conducive ground for vermin to thrive. This can easily be transferred to prison officers and easily transmitted to their families.
The judiciary holds the key to unlock the decongestion issue in prisons. Towards the end of last year, prison authorities had in their custody around 61,000 prisoners with a capacity of around 30,000 inmates. The prison authorities links this to high amounts imposed by courts as bail and bond terms. While crime must not be tolerated, courts must give terms which are viable especially for less serious offences in order to ease the burden off the prisons. Quick dispensation and fast-tracking of court cases can also be a vent to help the prison systems breath.
As Kenyans we clog the criminal justice system by taking every conflict to the courts and the prisons will be on the receiving end of the process. Kenyans are yet to embrace avenues such mediation and arbitration which are less tedious, less costly and offer quicker solutions. Kenyans should consider these alternatives to courts systems and apply social avenues such as religious bodies, family circles, local administration and interpersonal approach to less serious conflict.
The best way towards prison reforms would have been complete autonomy of Kenya’s Prison systems. During the review of the constitution of Kenya, a section of Kenyans were touting for an independent prison dispensation which would have seen the establishment of a system where an independent prisons constitutional body would be in charge instead of having a service under a ministry. This would have far reaching implications on the side of staff welfare, resource and budgets management, independent policy drive and less state red-carpet bureaucracy. This never came to be; however, the only window of hope is the finalization of the laws governing the management of prisons, the Prison Act (CAP 90) and the Borstal ACT (CAP 92).
I have been a witness to this prisons legal reform front for more than 2 decades. I pray that I will be at the table where party to celebrate this milestone will be availed for the obvious reason that this will be like a new dawn on how prison reforms will be carried out. Without a clear legal framework, efforts to streamline the United Nations Minimal Standard Rules (UNMSR) for Treatment of Prisoners christened the Mandela Rules will never permeate and percolate effectively.
While the prison authorities have travelled thus far in the quest to have meaningful reforms, it’s only that we haven’t collectively looked at the issues that continuously claw back on these efforts. One of the arguments fronted to warrant slowing prison reforms is the myopic reflection of prisons as a place for retribution and punishment and that there are other competing development and reform needs. However, we must agree that all fronts in society must reform and advance at the same pace. Let’s remember the words of the late Mwangi Gicheru, all of us; are potential prison clients.
Appeared on The Standard Daily on 27th January 2025 see the link: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/counties/article/2001510463/make-2025-different-by-stopping-abductions-upholding-rights
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