That our prisons are congested is not news, the concern is that most are filled with petty offenders.
The country currently has about 134 prisons with a capacity to hold 30,000 inmates but this has been stretched to more than 60,000.
Just over 35,000 of the inmates are being held pending the hearing and determination of their cases.
The congestion has led to unhygienic living conditions, malnutrition and outbreak of diseases.
This has raised the concern of senators, who through the Senate's Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee, will conduct a probe on the state of the facilities.
The Judiciary, Prisons and Probation departments need to make full use of the Community Service Order to decongest prisons.
The state spends a lot of taxpayer funds maintaining all these inmates, money that would be better used to take good care of a few inmates who genuinely deserve to be behind bars.
It beats logic to jail a maize roaster caught operating on the streets without a licence. The best would be to let the offender clean the streets under the supervision of county officials.
It is promising that the Judiciary is encouraging Alternative Dispute Resolution. This has helped reduce backlogs in court and reduce the number of people who would have ended up in prison.
Quote of the Day: “Might does not make right! Right makes right!”
T H White
The English novelist was born on May 29, 1906
