Prison staff living in deplorable conditions - report

Prison warders graduants march during the passing out parade at the Prisons Staff Training College, Ruiru, Kiambu County. [Photo, Standard]

Eighty four percent of Kenya prisons staff are living in conditions not fit for human habitation, an audit report has revealed.

The audit tabled in the National Assembly revealed that staff in the country’s prison stations are forced to put up in mud, iron sheet and timber houses, and multiple families made to squeeze into one bedroom shanties devoid of basic amenities such as toilets and running water.

As a result of the housing crisis, officers’ morale has significantly dropped, and their social and professional lives taken a beating.

“The audit observed instances of officers accommodated in single rooms with their families while other officers shared rooms. This compromised their privacy. For example, there were instances where two bedroom houses were shared among four families,” stated the audit report.

“Officers who reported that their houses are in bad condition also reported that their family life is affected; they are embarrassed to entertain visitor and lack privacy, among other issues. On the contrary, those living under good housing conditions reported having a good social life,” the report said.  

It showed showed that all prison stations in the country have a housing deficit of more than 50 per cent, with Kilifi and Kakamega prisons recording the highest deficits at 92 percent and 95 percent respectively.

Cases of families sharing houses were predominant in Coast and Rift Valley regions where officers were accommodated in single rooms of bedsitters.

In some cases, officers are forced to maintain their collapsing houses out of their own pocket, the report said.

“Due to lack of maintenance, the majority of prison staff houses are dilapidated and not fit for human habitation. Officers live in houses with broken windows and doors, cracked walls and leaking roofs,” stated the audit.

 Some officers are also forced to construct temporary sanitation facilities, which in most cases are shared by several families.

Most of those affected are junior officers who are not entitled to house allowances. The problem has also been compounded by poor planning by the government

“KPS has been recruiting officers into the service over years, but has failed to provide houses at the same pace. As at the time of the audit, KPS had only 3,894 permanent houses (one bedroom and above) against a staff population of 23,831. The problems has been compounded by an apparent lack of prioritization of prison staff housing by the government,’ the report stated.