Individuals serving jail terms in Kenya will earn salaries and pay taxes while incarcerated, according to proposed reforms floated by the government.
As part of the plan, the government has collaborated with the Chandaria Foundation to modernize workshops and establish bakeries in prisons across the country.
According to Correctional Services Principal Secretary Salome Beacco, the move aims to empower prisoners to support their families while in jail.
“We want our offenders to work, pay taxes, and support their families while serving their respective sentences,” Dr Beacco told a National Assembly committee last week.
Construction of bakeries is already underway in Kisumu, Mombasa, Nyeri, Eldoret, and Meru prisons. Simultaneously, 108 prisons are set for modernization with the acquisition of modern equipment, and additional facilities are earmarked for construction.
The Kenya Prisons Service is renowned for producing high-quality furniture, with Kamiti Maximum Prison hosting the country’s largest prison furniture workshop.
Over the years, the Service has been involved in several multibillion-shilling projects, including the 2012 renovation of Parliament’s debating chambers. Currently, it is renovating the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters on Kiambu Road.
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The new proposal is the latest in a series of reform agendas that started in December 2002 when Mwai Kibaki’s National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) rose to power, aiming to improve the living conditions of inmates across prisons nationwide.
The NARC government sought to carry out penal reforms aimed at transforming prisons into rehabilitation centers rather than punishment centres.
The then Vice President Moody Awori, who was in charge of the Ministry of Home Affairs, initiated several major reforms to improve the welfare of prisoners, including allowing conjugal visits, which have yet to be implemented.
Last year, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua advocated for a new approach within the Kenyan prisons, encouraging the use of penal institutions to promote agriculture and industrialization, thereby contributing to the nation’s food security agenda.
Mr Gachagua emphasized the potential of prisons to achieve self-sufficiency by activating the prison industry, partnering with private entities to market furniture products, and establishing a revolving fund to ensure prisons become self-sustaining.
“Create a revolving fund and make prisons self-sustainable. There is no reason why they should not produce enough food for inmates instead of buying the foodstuffs and selling the surplus. Penal institutions have huge tracts of land,” the Deputy President said.
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