As part of the program to modernize and improve the prison services and the entirety of the correctional services, the government has flagged off 100 vehicles to the national prisons service. Speaking during the ceremony at Nairobi West, Interior CS Fred Matiang’i said the correctional services have sometimes looked neglected but President Uhuru Kenyatta has called for a complete revamp of the sector, “Our President has demanded that we adopt a comprehensive approach in reforming the security sector including paying attention to correctional services,” said CS Matiang’i.
He said the government has completed several stalled buildings and some of the prison services staff are now living in comfortable accommodation. He said they are keen to adopt a multi-agency approach that will ensure the security teams work as a team, “So that even the vehicles we are flagging off today, have been entrusted to the correctional services, but they are within the pool of the security sector. When colleagues at the National Police Service need them they’ll be availed, when colleagues at the National Government Administration need them they’ll be available,” he said, adding that they should work as one and share resources to deliver the services needed.
The Interior CS said the government is looking at how they can decongest the prisons, “We have numbers slightly higher than the capacities we have.” He said the Interior Ministry is working with the Transport Ministry and NTSA to ensure they support the Inspector General in effecting on-spot fines, to eliminate long queues at the magistrate’s court and congestion arising from traffic offences, “We will spend Kshs 10,000 on them, and we’ll end up keeping them in remand custody when the fine they will pay is only Kshs 1000,” he said.