Senators are pushing for the release of minor offenders to free-up the congested prisons that have compromised the health of inmates, especially women and children.
The lawmakers want the government to administratively release the offenders or recommend law change to decongest the correctional facilities.
“It is very important that we find a way out to ensure we do not hold them unnecessarily in the prisons. I agree that we need to re-look at it,” Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said.
The call comes even as Speaker Amos Kingi cleared an inquiry into the status of prisons sought by Nominated Senator Hamida Kibwana.
In the inquiry that will be conducted by the Senate’s Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee, Kibwana asked the panel to establish the capacity of Kenya’s prisons vis-a-vis the number of persons currently incarcerated.
“The committee should clarify whether the treatment and living conditions of vulnerable persons in prisons, that is women and children, conforms to international standards and human rights guidelines,” she said.
The probe also seeks to establish whether the inmates have access to education, health services, and other basic human rights.
The panel chaired by Bomet Senator Hillary Sigei will also state the number of persons, by gender and age, incarcerated for minor offences with jail sentences of less than three years.
It will detail those unable to pay fines, and disclose the annual cost of maintaining such inmates vis-a-vis any fines they ought to have paid.
“The committee should assess whether the government and the inmates would benefit from early release of minor offenders, and whether there would be need to change the current legal framework to allow for such release,” she said.
The probe comes barely two weeks after Kibwana led women senators, under the umbrella of Kenya Women Senators Association, in a visit to Langata Women Prisons where they paid fines for over 100 petty offenders to secure their release.
The lawmakers experienced first hand the miserable conditions at the facility.
Cherargei averred that currently, the prisons are filled to capacity with young Kenyans arrested for loitering and disorderly conduct but do not have money to pay the small fines slapped on them.
Currently, there are about 134 prison facilities across the country with a capacity to hold 30,000 inmates.
However, about 60,000 people, double the capacity, are being held in the facilities.
The President has periodically been releasing people who have served long sentences through a Presidential Order.
“Fifty-one per cent are what we call pre-trial detainees who are 35,000. There is a lot of congestion in our prison facilities,” Cherargei added.
He said the government should come up with modalities on how to pay fines.
“People who are arrested because of changaa are fined Sh200 to Sh500. It is very important that we find a way out to ensure we do not hold them unnecessarily in the prisons,” he said.
For his part, Makueni Senator Dan Maanzo regretted that many prisons are filled with people arrested for small things such as misdemeanors and little fines.
“Will also save some money that is used to feed and keep them in the prisons. It would also reduce the chances of disease caused by overcrowded prisons,” he said.
Mombasa Senator Mohamed Faki regretted that most Kenyan prisons are old, build in the 1960s, and have never been expanded or improved but continue to accommodate more inmates.
