CORRECTIONAL SERVICES EXPLORES APAC MODEL TO STRENGTHEN OFFENDER REHABILITATION

By Nicholas Kigondu

The State Department for Correctional Services is exploring innovative rehabilitation approaches as it strives to build a correctional system that is secure, humane, accountable, and rehabilitation oriented.

Speaking during a capacity building workshop for senior officers from the Kenya Prisons Service on the Association for the Protection and Assistance of Convicts restorative justice prison model, Correctional Services Principal Secretary Dr. Salome Beacco said current realities demand continuous evaluation and adoption of innovative approaches that place human dignity, personal responsibility and community participation at the centre of correctional practice.

“The APAC Methodology has earned international recognition as a correctional model that seeks to recover the offender while preserving public safety and upholding the rule of law. The model is founded on principles of human dignity, accountability, discipline, work, education, spirituality, family involvement and community participation,” she observed.

She said the objective of adopting innovative approaches to offender rehabilitation are meant to identify good practices that can be appropriately contextualized and integrated into existing systems while remaining responsive to Kenya’s constitutional, legal, social and cultural realities.

According to the PS, recidivism continues to exert considerable pressure on correctional institutions, contributing to congestion and undermining rehabilitation gains.

While lauding the impact of the APAC Methodology, Commissioner General of Prisons Patrick Aranduh said the service remains open to embracing concepts that have proved successful in other jurisdictions.

According to Denio Marques of the Brazilian Fraternity of Assistance to Convicts, the model has offered a new perspective for restorative justice in Brazil, ensuring safer communities, lower recidivism, reduced prison pressure, stronger family and social reintegration as well as improved rehabilitation outcomes.

The State Department for Correctional Services has partnered with stakeholders including the European Union, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and AVSI Foundation, through the Programme for Legal Empowerment and Aid Delivery in Kenya, Phase II (PLEAD II), to learn from Brazil’s application of the model and dialogue with officers from both the Probation and Aftercare Service and Kenya Prisons Service on the methodology, with a view to piloting the APAC rehabilitation approach in the country.