Prison system should correct, not punish, inmates

It may have escaped many people’s attention, but in the week when inaugural celebrations were held this year to mark the Prisoners’ Justice Day, Mr George Weraka, an inmate at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, was reported to have committed suicide. My sincere condolences to his family and may he rest in peace.

Mr Weraka is alleged to have hanged himself in the night using his trousers and at the time of his death had reportedly been referred to hospital to be treated for depression.

While the reason(s) that prompted him to take his life may never be known, I found it disturbing that the incident occurred on a day when the world was focusing its attention on prisoners under the theme of “Restoring Prisoners to Themselves, Their Families and the Community”.

For those who may not know, the Prisoners’ Justice Day is commemorated on August 10 every year and can be traced back to the same date in 1974 when Edward Nolan, a prisoner in a segregation cell at the Canadian Mill Haven Penitentiary, committed suicide.

The day was thereafter set aside to remember all persons who have died of unnatural deaths inside Canadian prisons though it currently focuses on calls for more penal reforms and a more humane correctional system.

Other related matters such as solitary confinement, prisoners battling mental illnesses, torture, capital and corporal punishment, among others, also receive consideration on this special day.

The unfortunate incident mentioned above also turned my attention to the conditions in Kenyan prisons.

The world-wide principle that one is in prison for correction and not as punishment does not reflect the reality of most Kenyan prisoners’ experience.

With a capacity of about 22,000, the115 prison facilities currently hold more than 56,000 inmates, almost triple their capacity.

While some of the reasons for such congestion may be beyond the powers and means of the Kenya Correctional Service, it’s important that the Government urgently deals with this disturbing situation.

The deplorable and inhumane conditions of Kenyan prisons have been the repeated subject of focus whenever our state has been reviewed under both the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and other Conventions. The numbers listed above are indicative of the attendant bad conditions in prisons.

As a result of the same, prisoners complain of having to sleep in shifts or even while standing.

Other perennial problems include inadequate food, shortage of sleeping materials such as mattresses and blankets, inadequate clothing, poor sanitation and lack of access to appropriate medical care.

Farm prisons could be having the worst conditions since inmates are expected to engage in farm work and indeed are selected to be in those facilities by virtue of their perceived ability to undertake the same. Complaints of long working hours and inadequate food persist.

It is almost the norm not to have proper gear such as gumboots, soap for washing and even appropriate clothing – no extra uniform is provided and therefore most inmates have to wash their one pair of uniform at night so that it can be worn again the next day.

Shoes and sweaters could be considered a luxury and the sight of prisoners in tattered uniform is not uncommon.

The list of woes cannot be complete without mentioning the cases of assault of inmates perpetrated by both inmates and sometimes by and/or with the connivance of the prison officers.

The momentum of the reforms initiated by ‘Uncle Moody’ in the early 2000s seems to have waned.

The Government must commit to several things. Firstly, adequate resources should be allocated to correctional services to cater for minimum basic necessities of inmates such as clothing, bedding, food and toiletries.

On the issue of food, one would expect this to be the easiest target to achieve, taking into account the huge productive farms under the management of correctional services.

I was surprised to hear allegations of sale of farm produce by an officer in charge of one of the prisons for his own benefit. Such and similar actions call for strengthening of supervision over officers who may be susceptible to abuse of office.

Attitudinal change is also need among the public, the State and the Kenya Correctional Services staff. While it is true that most prisoners are responsible for their fate, they are still human beings, deserving of our consideration and to be treated with dignity. After all, the purpose of confinement in prison is for rehabilitation and reformation before re-integration into society.

There are also the few unlucky innocent souls who end up in prison due to the imperfections of humanity and the systems that have been set up.

This brings to mind my first ever visit to a detention facility, which happened to be outside this country, almost sixteen years ago. The officer then charged with the responsibility of reforming inmates at the facility and who had done quite a commendable job said in his opening remarks before conducting us on a tour:

“We have all committed crimes; it is just that some of us have been lucky to escape the arm of the law.”