THREE-DAY CONSULTATIVE WORKSHOP TO ADVANCE OPERATIONALIZATION OF ACHPR STANDARDS OPENS IN NAIROBI
By Nicholas Kigondu
Public Service, Human Capital Development and Special Programmes Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku has called for the strengthening of legislative frameworks and promotion of community-based alternatives to incarceration as a means of addressing challenges facing Africa’s correctional systems.
Speaking in Nairobi when he launched a Consultative Workshop to advance Operationalization of African Commission Human and People’s Rights Standards in Correctional Systems, the CS said improving prison conditions is fundamentally tied to broader governance issues that are integral to reducing prison populations and ensuring that detention remains a measure of last resort, consistent with human rights principles.
“The ACHPR’s resolutions provide a critical framework that challenges us to reflect deeply on the state of our correctional facilities and to act decisively to transform them into places of rehabilitation, respect, and humane treatment.” He observed.
He said the poor conditions within correctional facilities in the region not only undermine the dignity of those in custody but also impede meaningful reintegration into society and consequently, the broader goals of public safety and social harmony.
Addressing the forum, Correctional Services Principal Secretary Dr. Salome Beacco said the African Correctional Services Association (ACSA) provides the continent with a vital platform for collective action rooted in the spirit of South-South Cooperation.
She said Concerted collaboration will enable the region to replicate solutions from one part of Africa and scale them across the continent, promoting innovation, resilience, and sustainable reform within shared contexts.
“We must also reimagine the very purpose of corrections. Correctional facilities must not only contain – they must transform. They must prepare individuals for reintegration, strengthen families, and contribute to the social fabric of our nations.” She observed.
Sentiments shared by National Commissioner, Department of Correctional Services, South Africa and Chairperson of the African Correctional Services Association Makgothi Samuel who said Africa’s correctional system has a duty to mainstream human rights within correctional services.
According to Special Rapporteur on Prisons, Conditions of Detention and Policing in Africa Teresa Manuela, it was imperative that the region develops local solutions to challenges facing African Prisons even as she called on respective administrations to give civil society groups access to prisons.
Commissioner General of prisons Patrick Aranduh says the Kenya Prisons Service has developed comprehensive trainings with a focus on human rights that are aligned to best global principles and virtues.
The three-day high-level meeting organized by the State Department for Correctional Services in partnership with the Raoul Walleberg Institute has brought together Chiefs of Correctional Services from 14 African countries for a strategic, high-level exchange on persistent and emerging challenges, with the aim of catalyzing practical, rights-based, and regionally grounded solutions that are sustainable and scalable.