Kenya Prisons: Towards Privatization and Reform of a Rotting Penal System

Abstract

This research paper is written to attempt and instigate a reform agenda for the Kenya Prison Service. Kenya Prison has been a department of inertia that has been besieged by many problems that have ranged from poor administrative policies, poor infrastructure to lack of contemporary penal practices. This paper will address a viable option of revamping the Prison Service through privatization by contracting out prison services. This privatization will be addressed on the following fronts: Propriety/Correctness of Prison Privatization, Cost of Prison Privatization vs. Cost to the Kenyan Government, Quality of services to be offered by privatizing, Quantity of services to be offered by privatizing, Flexibility of the private service providers vs. The State, Security of the prison facilities, Issues on liability, Issues on accountability, Corruption. This Research used a case study approach. Qualitative data was employed and gathered majorly from academic research. At the end of this paper the Government of Kenya via the Ministry of Home Affairs will have a feasible solution to solving an endemic problem in the Kenya Prisons Service that seems to have prevailed through the years with no end in sight and an avenue towards penal reform in Kenya.