Nakuru residents celebrates women's day with inmates

The Nakuru Women's Prisons on March 8th invited stakeholders to come and celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day with the inmates and staff.

Among those in attendance included the Nakuru Women Rep Jubilee Candidate Grace Kibuku, two candidates for MCA positions, Psychiatric Disability Organization (PDO) and the Nakuru Players Theatre.

This year’s theme was #BeBoldForChange and the message from most speakers in the event was that women should take bold steps to achieve gender parity, including running for more elective positions in this year's elections.

The Nakuru Players Theatre provided entertainment to inmates to break the monotony of prison life and provide a chance to laugh, dance and interact with visitors.

PDO provides psycho-social support for inmates and their babies through counseling, visits and donation of items once very week. This is because without proper psychosocial support, these women will not be able to come out of prisons and play their rightful role in the society.

This is because prisons have a high concentration of people with mental illness. Two reports by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics on mental illness show that prevalence estimates were three to 12 times higher than in community samples, reaching as high as 64%.