The government on Thursday, December 15, announced a planned decongestion program between the Judiciary and Prisons Services that would see minor offenders set free.
Speaking at Mwea prisons, Principal Secretary Ministry for the State Department of correctional services, Mary Muthoni, announced that the move would see the offenders released by January 2023.
She also proposed to the courts to give alternative punishments to minor offenders.
“The president of the supreme court is very positive about this issue and we want to decongest the prisons.
"Petty offenders don’t need to be contained in such places,” she stated.
Some of the petty offenders set to be released include people caught loitering on the streets and drunkards.
“Even after being taken to the court, such people do not need to be imprisoned,” she noted.
Muthoni, who replaced PS nominee Caroline Nyawira, stated that prisons all over the country are currently holding inmates beyond capacity.
Her words came after Thika Town MP Alice Ng'ang'a pushed for the relocation of the Thika GK prison from the central business district to create space for other infrastructural developments.
“Can we be in a position to move this prison and take it to another place just within the constituency?” she posed.
She affirmed that the facility, which occupied over 20 acres within the municipality, could create space for other beneficial projects.
