A technical team comprising the State Department for Correctional Services and that of Housing and Public Works has been set up to work on modalities for the refurbishment of housing for prison warders.

Correctional Services Principal Secretary Ms. Salome Muhia-Beacco said there was a huge deficit of prison warder staff houses, hence the need to work closely with the two-state departments to afford the prison staff quality housing.

Addressing the media at the Eldoret GK main prison, the PS said there was ongoing consultation with PS Housing and Urban Development to see how the huge deficit can be bridged through the President’s affordable housing initiative.

Ms. Beacco, who was accompanied by Commissioner General of Prisons Brigadier (Rtd) John Warioba and Secretary of Probation and Aftercare Services Dr. Christine Obondi, were on a fact-finding mission to inspect completed projects and ongoing projects and assess those that are stagnating with a view to looking for solutions to hasten the projects.

The
PS, who visited Kimumu Probation and Aftercare Centre, Eldoret GK Main Prison, and Ngeria Prison, said they are working on staff reorganisation for probation and after-service officers to ensure that those who have stagnated in one job group for long are promoted and move senior staff to positions of management to ensure succession planning will not be a challenge.

She further assured KPS staff that their promotions were being worked on; ‘we have dealt with the issue of promotion of warders and assure those not promoted that they shall be promoted since this is an ongoing process,’ she assured the PS.

Ms. Beacco said her department was working closely with the chair of Community Service Orders (CSO) with a view to scaling up visits by CSO teams around prisons nationally to check on how decongestion of the facilities can be done by considering releasing offenders whose jail terms are almost complete and petty offenders through CSO.

At the same time, the PS said the State Department for Correctional Services
was working with stakeholders and development partners to establish a high-quality daycare centre for children with their mothers at the Eldoret Women’s Prison.

The PS said her department managed to plant 500,000 tree seedlings during the national tree-growing day; ‘we intend that by the end of the rainy season, we shall have planted 1.5 million trees, being part of the target given to the state department for correctional services of growing 100 million trees annually.’

Source: Kenya News Agency