Christmas is around the corner and it is everyone’s wish to celebrate ‘siku kuu’ with their loved ones. for 38 lucky prisoners their dream came true as the government’s plan to decongest prisons countrywide saw them released from Kitale Annex Prison on Friday.
The prisoners, most of whom were petty offenders will be handed over to the Probation Department where they will undergo Community Service Order (CSO) program before being released to the community.
According to the officer in charge of Kitale Annex Prison Francis Itulia, the facility had submitted 64 names of the already identified prisoners for review by the High Court and 38 out of the 64 were approved and set for release.
“I urge the general public to accept the released prisoners back into the community for they have reformed and ready to participate in building the nation,” said Itula.
Itulia further noted that the prison has more than 120 prisoners convicted with petty offences.
Thegovernment had announced earlier its plan to free 8,000 inmates with the aim to decongest prisons in Kenya.
According to government statistics, prisons in Kenya are holding three times the designed capacity of such facilities and have been condemned for excessive congestion that violates basic human rights.The East African nation has 89 prisons and a prison population of 50,000.
The Criminal Justice System Audit Report published in 2017 estimated that every two years, more than four million people are arrested and detained.
Thirty-two per cent of these arrests are converted to charges in court.
However, 70 per cent of these charges are related to petty offences. The CSO Act was enacted by Parliament in 1998 to address challenges in prisons, especially congestion.
The penal institutions currently have 55,000 prisoners against a capacity of 32,000.