• Major prison facilities include Kamiti Maximum Security, Industrial Area Remand, Nairobi West and Lang'ata Women’s.
• Matiang'i suggested some facilities should be moved to Kitale in Trans Nzoia or Bomet. City needs the prime land for development,
Image: FILE
Plans are underway to move major prisons from the city 's prime land to create space for development projects.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said on Friday President Uhuru Kenyatta had directed officials to relocate "about seven" prisons. Most are congested and dilapidated.
A report says they are breeding grounds for radicalisation and violent extremism.
Matiang'i suggested some prisons should be moved to Kitale in Trans Nzoia or Bomet county.
“Why should we have prisons in the middle of the city when we could use that prime land to develop and increase amenities?” the CS asked.
He spoke during the launch of the National Land Commission's 2021-26 strategic plan in Nairobi.
The major prisons include Kamiti Maximum Security, Industrial Area Remand, Nairobi West and Langata Women’s.
At the Coast, Shimo La Tewa is the main facility near Mombasa city.
Most of the structures were built long ago and some are of historical value. Historians may want to preserve some of them.
They need costly major expansion and upgrades to modern standards.
There are fears the prime and could be grabbed.
Kamiti is in the middle of its own 1,200-acre estate, which is fallow and undeveloped.
Lang’ata is on about 50 acres, after the rest was allegedly grabbed.
Construction of a new facilities will require huge finances as the cells will need to be modern and have required amenities .
The Prisons department is being reformed and modernised.
The Kenya Prisons Service has received a report and handbook help manage and defuse the 'crisis' of radicalisation among prisoners.
Reports have showed the penal institutions have become breeding grounds for violent extremists.
The handbook was compiled by the Prisons and Legal Resources Foundation Trust to prevent and counter radicalisation and violent extremism.
The report offers detailed risk assessment tools and best practices on housing and managing violent extremist offenders without violating their rights.
It calls for demilitarisation of how violent extremist offenders are handled to ensure they remain a source of intelligence and and are reformed.
"Proper risk assessment of prisoners is one of the fundamental components of good management, which cannot succeed without analysis of the risks they pose," the report reads.
The report says prison managers will have to determine whether to separate violent extremisms offenders from the rest of the prisoners living in crowded conditions.
Separating extremists from the general population could make it easier to manage and reduce the risk of their radicalising others to violence, but it also poses a threat.
“Separation may elevate their status in the eyes of other prisoners or groups in the prison population, which plays into the narrative of radicalisers, who either feel special or persecuted,” it reads.
Commissioner general of prisons Wycliffe Ogallo said the report is a milestone in ensuring penal institutions are not turned into grounds for radicalisation to violence.
“The strategy seeks to fortify the resilience of actors within prisons against the influence of radicalisation to violent extremism. It is designed to be used by prison managers and staff but will also be relevant for other actors in the criminal justice system and policymakers,” Ogallo said.
He said personnel would be trained on the guidelines.
(Edited by V. Graham)