The Correctional Services department is working on modalities of dealing and hosting intersex inmates whose number is rising gradually.
While noting that the phenomenon was new, the prisons have embarked on training their officers on dealing with the special group while planning on where to detain them.
This came as it emerged that the prisons were hosting double their capacity with 90 per cent of the inmates unable to hire lawyers due to high poverty levels.
This emerged when Justice Defenders and the Prisons department embarked on training for paralegals at Naivasha Prison targeting both inmates and members of staff.
Director of legal and human rights in prisons Dixon Mwakazi said the department was embracing the new phenomena of intersex inmates.
He said the special group was protected by the law and they would protect them and offer support whenever in their facilities.
“We have a new phenomenon in terms of intersex and we are working on modalities of how to host them and where as we train our officers on the issue of human rights,” Mwakazi said.
He lauded the paralegal training for inmates, saying it would help in decongestion.
Mwakazi said currently the country’s penal institutions had more than 60,000 inmates against a capacity of 25,000. He said 90 per cent of the inmates could not afford legal support.
“Last year, more than 6,000 inmates were either set free or released on bond following the paralegal training by Justice Defenders and we are calling for affordable bail for petty offenders,” Mwakazi said.
Justice Defenders country director Miriam Wachira said they were currently working in 18 prisons in the country.
She said half of the inmates in the country were in remand due to lack of knowledge in dealing with their cases.
“With this training many inmates have benefitted, with 6,000 getting released last year at a time when 90 per cent of those in prison cannot afford legal fees,” Wachira said.
Retired Justice Anne Claire Williams from the US lauded the programme, saying the training will make a lot of difference in courts.
“For years, there has been concerns within the justice system over lack of representation of the poor who are in prisons and this programme can change all that,” she said.
Inmate Stanlous Musembi, who is serving a life sentence and has a law degree, said the paralegal training had changed the lives of many inmates.
“There are many innocent people who have been jailed due to poor representation in court but under this programme many have been released after training,” he said.
