JOURNEY TOWARDS COMPREHENSIVE LEGAL AND POLICY REFORMS ENTER HOME STRETCH

By Nicholas Kigondu

The country is set to realize envisaged reforms within its correctional system and the National Youth Service with the drafts of the Correctional Services Policy, the Kenya Correctional Services Bill, and the NYS Amendment Bill now in the final validation stage.

On Friday, Chair of the National Steering Committee on National Police Service, Kenya Prisons Service, and National Youth Service Reforms, Internal Security PS Dr. Raymond Omollo alongside Correctional Services PS Dr. Salome Beacco met technical teams working on the legal and policy reviews for a progress report.

According to Omollo, the envisaged legal and policy reforms are integral as they are meant to strengthen governance structures within the country’s security institutions even as he cautioned the technical teams against being overly prescriptive.

Speaking at the same event, PS Beacco expressed optimism that the technical teams will be able to deliver on their mandate that will provide a legislative framework establishing the legal environment within which the two institutions will operate.

The new legal and policy framework for Correctional Services seeks to identify gaps and provide a paradigm shift from being purely punitive to one focused on the rehabilitation with the goal of transforming offenders into productive members of the society.

The proposals contained in the Correctional Services Bill and Policy include the rights and obligations of offenders, duties and responsibilities of Prison and Probation officers, welfare programs for prison and probation officers, management of both custodial and non-custodial offenders, aftercare and resettlement, internal complaints mechanism, among others.