•Seven out of 10 inmates are petty offenders with the lowest case determination rates
•Up to Sh15 million a day is spent on feeding inmates.
Seven out of 10 inmates in the country are petty offenders with the lowest case determination rates, the Annual Criminal Justice Conference was told on Tuesday.
Petty offenders make up 68 per cent of the over 53,000 inmates in Kenyan correctional facilities. This fact may give a boost in the push to decriminalise petty offences.
The state spends up to Sh15 million a day to feed inmates.
The forum heard that laws on petty offences are biased against the poor, giving enforcers the authority to determine the future of the accused, besides giving room for violation of their rights and promotion of corruption.
High Court judge Grace Ngenye said this category of inmates experiences the lowest rate of case determination.
Organised crimes and serious offences have the highest acquittal and withdrawal rates, Ngenye said.
She said most of the offences in this category include loitering with intent to commit an offence, being idle and disorderly, drunk and disorderly, walking without an ID, lack of business permits and some traffic offences.
"Most of the offenders cannot afford bond terms and hence remain in custody."
Ngenye, who is also the chairperson of the Criminal Justice Reform committee of the National Council of Administration of Justice, said this category of offences is the easiest to prosecute and convict.
"The law gives the officers sweeping discretion to arrest and formulate offences later besides generating the evidence to nail the suspects."
She recommended alternative means of handling offenders including community service, confiscation of items and rehabilitation.
The judge said the cost of keeping the offenders in custody is higher than releasing them. Decriminalising and declassifying them would free up resources to be used in other serious offences.
Nairobi city court chief magistrate Rosemary Oganya said most of those who appear before her are charged with among others urinating in the open, spitting in public, littering, selling charcoal, loitering with intent to commit prostitution, begging and hawking.
"These offences should attract a maximum fine of only Sh2,000 but due to harassment by county askaris, they opt to pay the hefty bribes," she said.
These offences, she said, should be decriminalised because they encourage corruption, violation of rights and impunity by law enforcement officials.
She cited a time when her son was arrested by traffic officers for crossing the road while talking on the phone. They demanded Sh3,000.
"When my son called to inform me, explaining that he did not commit the offence, I asked to speak to the officer who, instead of inquiring first who I was, started by asking if I had found the money they had demanded," Oganya said.
The offences, she said, cause congestion in the correctional facilities even though most of them tend to be dismissed.
"In fact, I have never convicted anyone of these offences since I joined the city court because there is never evidence," she said.
Police spokesman Charles Owino decriminalising petty offences would improve the relationship between the police and the public.
"The public and the police do not have a cordial relationship and petty offences play a major role in this. Finding a way of dealing with them would go a long way," he said.
He said this would also help to achieve quick breakthroughs during police investigations.
"The public will easily volunteer intelligence information to us if we relate well with them."
But rounding up of petty offenders, he cautioned, is often helpful in deterring serious offences such as rape, defilement, robbery and violence by idlers.
Joab Ondari from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said the DPP had developed plea bargain as one of the means of addressing case backlogs in courts.
He also suggested the use of diversion as an alternative to prosecution.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)