The role of prisons in the administration of custodial Rehabilitation of inmates in Kenya: a case of Thika main prison, Kiambu County
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Date
2013-11-13
Authors
Wekesa, Everlyne
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Abstract
This study sought to investigate the role of Prisons in the administration of custodial
rehabilitation to men and women inmates in Thika Main Prison. Although, the role of
Kenya Prison Service (KPS) is generally to rehabilitate and reform prisoners to control
recidivism, contain and keep offenders in safe custody, facilitate administration of justice
and promote prisoners' opportunities for social integration, there has been a lot of
concern raised on the administration and management of Prison systems in Kenya
including the effectiveness of the rehabilitation programmes offered. The objectives of
the study were to identify the existing programmes for rehabilitation of inmates, assess
the impact of the programmes offered to men and women inmates in rehabilitation,
investigate the gender-specific challenges encountered by prison officers in rehabilitating
men and women inmates and come up with strategies on how to address the challenges
encountered thereof. The study was done at Thika Main Prison situated in Thika West
District, Kenya. The participants in the study were 350 men and 200 women inmates
serving sentences ranging from 2 and 7 years; and 60 prison officers dealing with
rehabilitation. Simple random sampling was used to select 70 men and 40 women
inmates while purposive sampling was applied to select 39 prison officers to participate.
The main data collection instruments included; (1). Questionnaires administered to prison
officers, (2). Focused Group Discussion (FGD) guide applied to inmates, (3).
Observation checklist was prepared simultaneously to compliment the information
gathered in the questionnaires and FGDs. Data was analyzed qualitatively through coding
guided by themes generated through research questions and presented through descriptive
statistics using tables and figures. The study established that vocational training, formal
education, counseling and spiritual rehabilitation were the major rehabilitation
programmes which positively changed inmates' lifestyles through promotion of
behaviour change and that despite the rehabilitation programmes being offered, various
challenges hampered effective service delivery by prison officers to inmates. The study
therefore recommends that the prison institutions should uphold the best practices of
good governance and management in their institutions so that the best prisons can be
taken as a role model to others to replicate the rehabilitation programme services across
other prisons in Kenya while inmates should be sensitized to develop positive attitude
towards rehabilitation programmes as this would give room for peer counseling; among
other recommendations.
Description
Department of Gender and Development Studies