Reformed convicts will have their sentences reduced by a third if a bill proposed by Majority Leader Adan Duale is passed into law.
The reduction in prison term will however not be applicable to criminals convicted of robbery with violence or serving life sentences.
“Convicted criminal prisoners sentenced to imprisonment, whether by one sentence or consecutive sentences, for a period exceeding one month, may by industry (hard work) and good conduct earn a remission of one-third of their sentence or sentences,” reads part of the Bill.
After keen analysis, a Judiciary task force reported that the situation in Kenyan prisons was “unfathomable”, with local prisons hosting more than double their inmates' capacity.
“Prisons designed for an average of 26,000 people a day were holding up to 52, 143 inmates,” the team reported.
The bill noted that good behaviour and discipline would be encouraged in the 110 correctional facilities in the country after its implementation.
The Internal Security Secretary and the Commissioner of Prisons will however have the powers to oppose the reduction of an inmate's sentence in the interest of public security or if the inmate is not yet reformed.
According to sources in the Judiciary, the overly populated correctional centres prompted a cut in food rations in order to sufficiently service the prisons. The situation may however be averted after the construction of nine more prisons by the government is complete.
The current situation is a step backward from Former President Mwai Kibaki's reform which led to the introduction of better meals, TV sets and the replacement of tattered uniforms and mattress in prisons.
