Pardon elderly prisoners, prison official pleads

By Antony Gitonga

A senior officer at the Naivasha Maximum Prison has recommended pardon for hundreds of inmates who are over 70, saying they are too old and no longer a security threat.

Barely a month after President Kibaki commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment, the officer-in-charge of the prison Patrick Mwenda said the move was long overdue.

Mwenda said the growing number of old prisoners was worrying.

"Among those inmates whose death sentence was commuted to life by the President, many were over 70 and too frail to even go back to their old ways," he said.

He also asked the Judiciary to hasten hearing of criminal appeals, blaming the slow process for congestion in prisons.

He said half of the 3,000 inmates in the prison could be out if the process was hastened and their appeals concluded.

He said the decision to commute the death sentence had brought ‘life’ to 1,600 inmates. "We have now over 1,300 inmates learning various trades and they have hope of gaining freedom one day," he said

He spoke during a ceremony to celebrate the circumcision of 128 inmates, who were initiated in the prison a fortnight ago.

Ms Catherine Mureithi of Kijabe Mission Hospital said the facility would continue to sponsor the circumcision programme in the penal institution.