Prisoners from the Kilifi for the first time joined stakeholders in the monthly clean-up exercise aimed at making Malindi green and blue.
The prisoners and security personnel drawn from the Kenya Prisons Service, National Police Service, business community, conservationists, tourism stakeholders, Judiciary and other government departments took part in the exercise.
The clean-up is organised by Progress Welfare Association of Malindi and seeks to sensitise the community on the importance of keeping the environment clean and turning trash into cash.
Kilifi probation officer Conrad Masinde said they conducted a sentence review from prisons within the county, including Kaloleni, Kilifi and Malindi GK prisons and managed to have 36 prisoners to serve the remainder of their terms by conducting community service.
The prisoners are spread throughout the prisons in Kalolen, Kilifi and Malindi but the inmates released from Malindi joined them in the clean-up exercise.
The probation officer said it was a soft launch of a project they have been working on to decongest prisons and have the supervisors working towards cleaning the town and circular economy projects.
“It is a good project because, as much as they benefit by being able to take care of their families through employment, the impact is being felt by the community whereby they serve their sentences from outside and payback to the community,” he said.
Released inmates who took part in the clean-up will continue doing the exercise on a weekly basis.
Masinde said they also intend to use the project to empower them through the circular economy by doing recycling waste being collected and bought to generate income.
Onesimus Kyalo, Malindi GK Prison deputy officer, said he was happy to participated in the clean-up and benchmarked on community service orders.
“Today Nyumba 10 clean-ups are going on in all those areas, there are disciplined forces who are off duty and are cleaning their localities in Malindi,” Kate Mwikali, the chairperson of PWAM, said.
Brian Kipkurui, a freed inmate from Kericho who was serving a sentence at Malindi GK Prison, thanked the probation office for the kind gesture.
“We feel like we have been born again because it was a bad experience, we thank the probation for securing our release, we have now reunited with our families,” he said.
Hassan Banji, the Kenya Wildlife Service deputy warden Malindi Marine National Park, said they have been doing clean-ups every second week of the month at the marine protected areas.
