REFORMING WOMEN BEHIND BARS THROUGH DIFFERENT REHABILITATION PROGRAMS
By Pili Chimerah
Hobbies and handcrafting, bakery, tailoring, embroidery, pottery, crocheting, cross stitching, floriculture, farming, and formal education are just some of the rehabilitation programs which women behind bars are trained on.
Such skills enhance offenders’ employability after they have been released or even become entrepreneurs by opening own businesses.
While being taken through such skills, the products made are usually sold to the public and the money earned acts as a revolving fund to buy materials, while a fraction of the proceeds is given to the inmates as earnings.
At the Lang’ata Maximum Women Prison, a Hobbies and Handcraft centre for un-convicted inmates imparts them with skills that would benefit them in the future. The inmates sign a consent form that the training is voluntary.
The facility houses a counselling centre where the inmates undergo group and individual counselling. The therapies help them relieve their state of confusion after committing a crime while they get a chance to disclose their challenges.
The inmates are also taken through floriculture training and landscaping. The flowers are sold to the public. Apart from floriculture, the offenders are trained in farming and through this, the facility is self-sufficient in vegetable production while the surplus is distributed to different prison stations with some sold to the public.
The facility has a paralegal section and during a recent visit, there were 16 paralegals, including 11 inmates and 5 prison officers. These paralegals create awareness among the other inmates on legal aid and access to justice including self-representation at the courts. Late last year, 2 inmates graduated with a degree in law from the University of London, a testament of the opportunities presented to inmates to advance formal education.
The law allows children below the age of four to accompany their mothers in prison. The facility therefore houses a daycare centre for children of both the inmates and prison officers. These daycares help the children interact with other children while giving them a chance to live a normal life. There are also playing grounds for the childern, sufficient nutritional food for the young ones, and essentials to ensure the children are in a good and safe environment. The facility has a maternity wing where the inmates practice exclusive breastfeeding, therefore, they get plenty of time with their offspring for proper development.
The inmates also undergo formal education, and during the time of the visit, 5 inmates had been registered for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education, (KCSE). The State Department for Correctional Services frequently supplies the institutions with reading materials for continuity and comfort of learning.
So far, 120 inmates in the facility have been trained in baking at the Chandaria Langata Women's Prison Workshop. During the training, the inmates are taken through entrepreneurial, productive and management skills. The workshop additionally has a tailoring section where more inmates benefit from skills in fashion design, knitting, dressmaking, financial literacy and managerial skills.
The facility also has an entertainment section known as Sakata where the inmates are trained to dance and entertain. This also helps them ease their minds while they serve their sentences in prison.
The government aims to improve correctional facilities to ensure they conform to international standards and human rights laws. To actualize the undertaking, State Department for Correctional Services Principal Secretary Dr. Salome Beacco has been touring different correctional facilities across the country to identify gaps and devise strategies of how to address them besides pushing for commitment and integrity among staff.