Some 260 inmates at Isiolo GK prison are enlisted with the Universal Health Care (UHC) pilot scheme.
Isiolo is among the four counties including Nyeri, Kisumu and Machakos piloting the free medical scheme.
County Prison Commander Hassan Wako said the enrolment is a major relief for the Prisons Department as it spends colossal amounts of money on medical treatment per month.
Wako said the beneficiaries will not have to register for the same programme once they leave theprison.
He said the enrolment was likely to be completed by the time the majority of those enlisted left jail.
Inmate Erick Mutembei commended the government for registering prisoners for the UHC alongside other Kenyans.
Mutembei said most inmates had never been enrolled in the National Hospital Insurance Fund scheme even when they were not in prison due to financial challenges.
They were happy for the opportunity to get health coverage while behind bars, he said.
Universal Health Coverage is one of the Big Four Agenda for the Jubilee administration and is set to be rolled out across the 47 counties after the one year pilot phase in Isiolo, Nyeri, Kisumu and Machakos.
The prisons department is said to owe hospitals millions of shillings in medical bills. It owes Kenyatta National Hospital alone Sh31 million.
The national referral hospital has in the recent past turned away inmates.
This makes Isiolo the only county to have listed inmates out of the four counties doing pilots on the Universal Health Care scheme.
