Why Prisons Service is a 'wild jungle' for most inmates

President William Ruto presides over the 46^th Kenya Prisons Service pass-out parade at the Prisons Staff Training College in Ruiru, Kiambu County, on February 26, 2026. [File, Standard]

The report on the Kenya Prisons Service (KPS) exposes a service in crisis plagued by corruption, horrific living conditions, and outdated colonial era laws.

National Taskforce on Police Reforms chaired by former Chief Justice David Maraga paints a picture of an institution so compromised that officers are colluding with inmates to run phone scams and drug rings from prison precincts, while officers' families live in tents and condemned structures across the country.

The report reveals that the KPS is virtually dysfunctional, with a leadership crisis, widespread corruption, and a 40 per cent annual funding deficit that has paralyzed its operations.

The taskforce, visited all 47 counties, held public hearings, and received submissions from thousands of stakeholders before delivering its findings.

"The picture that has emerged is one of an appalling Service characterised by overcrowding, rottenness, omissions and commissions, looting, grabbing, lethargy, indiscipline, diseases, squalor, ineptitude and modern-day-slavery: in brief, a wild jungle," the report states.

The taskforce found that corruption has been normalised at every level of the Prisons Service. Recruitment slots are sold to the highest bidders, promotions are bought, and nepotism has turned some prison operations into family enterprises.

"Such are the levels of nepotism and corruption in recruitment into the KPS that several officers have had their family members employed in the Service. Some of these family members are serving together in the same station, thus creating huge command challenges," the report states.

In one shocking finding, the taskforce established that recruitment positions were being sold for up to Sh600,000, with influence peddling from politically connected individuals and senior officers.

The taskforce heard of widespread reports of persistent behaviour of collusion between rogue prison officers and prisoners in the running of phone scams, fraud, petty trade and drug trafficking from precincts of prisons a clear indication that the service has abandoned its core mandate of correction and rehabilitation.

Since 2008, every Commissioner General of Prisons has been appointed from outside the Service.

Isaya S.M. Osugo from the Kenya Police Service served from 2008 to 2019; Wycliffe O. Ogallo from National Government Administration led from 2019 to 2021; and Brigadier (Rtd.) John K. Warioba from the Kenya Defence Forces has been at the helm since 2021.

The report recommends that the restructured Prisons Council be vested with the power to carry out a transparent recruitment process of the CGP that is open to both external candidates and qualified members of the Service.

The taskforce further recommends that the CGP be designated as a state officer through legislative amendment and made the accounting officer of KPS ending the current arrangement where the Principal Secretary holds this function.

The Taskforce visited prisons across all 47 counties and witnessed firsthand the inhumane and degrading conditions under which officers and their families live.

Currently, the Service has only 5,000 permanent housing units against a staff strength of 31,384, a shortfall of over 26,000 units.

The State Department for Housing and Urban Development, which manages KPS housing, has completed only 1,782 units since 2016, while 1,650 are at various stages of completion.

"In some KPS stations, different families live in dormitories with each family only separated by a bedsheet curtain. Officers also live in tents or shacks that they construct for themselves," the report reveals.

The situation at Langata Women's Prison was particularly shocking.

Senior KPS officers, particularly from Prisons headquarters including some who do not even work at that station have occupied available houses to the exclusion of junior officers who cannot afford the rental rates in the affluent vicinity.

The taskforce noted that the state of KPS housing 60 years after independence is simply horrendous, unacceptable and an indictment of the KPS leadership and the responsible policy makers.

The report exposes a perennial problem of overcrowding in prison facilities. Prisons currently have capacity for 29,000 inmates but are often forced to hold over 60,000.

"In some prisons like Vihiga, the inmates literally sleep inside the toilets," the report found, while insufficient ablution facilities force inmates to use buckets in poorly ventilated dormitories.

The crowding in prisons is detrimental to the health and wellness of both inmates and prison officers for whom the prison is a workplace.

The taskforce was shocked that Clause 124 (1)(x) of the Prisons Service Standing Orders allows commanders to discipline junior officers for "any other conduct" creating an opportunity for abuse and arbitrary disciplinary procedures.

The report details the great pain, frustration, and discontent caused by the current medical insurance scheme.

Junior officers are forced to use facilities that turn them away because their low ranks exclude them from accessing treatment.

Five counties Nyandarua, West Pokot, Samburu, Elgeyo Marakwet, and Uasin Gishu have zero accredited facilities

The report notes that officers based in Nairobi have relatively better access to medical services than their colleagues stationed in other counties, with some officers being forced to travel over 200 kilometers to access accredited facilities.

Between January and December 2022 alone, a total of 179 officers were admitted to rehabilitation centres.

The highest number of KPS officers admitted to rehabilitation centres was in 2023 at 308 officers, followed by 2022 at 179 officers.

The report notes that mental health challenges in KPS are linked to the nature of work and aggravated by the officers' poor working and living conditions.

Officers are regularly exposed to aggressive behaviour, abuse, and even threats of violence from inmates.

The taskforce established that KPS owns 22,458.84 acres of land, but 4,234.06 acres have been grabbed by corrupt and well-connected individuals, leaving the Service with only 18,225.90 acres. Out of 134 correctional facilities, only 14 have title deeds.

KPS farms have been run down due to lack of resources, poor management, and corruption.

However, the report notes that a turnaround strategy applied two years ago saw the revolving funds post an exponential growth from Sh4.2 million in 1993 to Sh 645 million in 2020. Between 2017/18 and 2021/22, sales from prison industries generated almost Sh 1.5 billion.

The Maraga taskforce proposed a raft ofreforms. On leadership, the report recommends fresh vetting of all officers from Senior Superintendent of Prisons and above within six months, with the CGP to be designated as a state officer and made the accounting officer of KPS.

The Prisons Council should be restructured to include a chairperson with qualifications equivalent to a Supreme Court Judge, representatives from the National Treasury, Public Service Commission, and correctional services.

On legal reforms, the taskforce calls for a complete review of the Prisons Act, Borstal Institutions Act, and Standing Orders within one year to create a new correctional services legal order that is in line with the Constitution. Recruitment reforms include raising the minimum entry grade to C- in KCSE with exceptions for marginalized areas, increasing the recruitment age from 18 to 21 years, and implementing a hybrid recruitment model of online applications followed by physical interviews at county level.

On remuneration, the report recommends a 40 per cent increment for the lowest ranks (PG1), reducing progressively to 3 per cent for the highest rank (PG14), implemented in three phases from July 1, 2024. The taskforce also recommends the introduction of new grades including Constable III, II, and I, Corporal III, II, and I, and Inspector II and I to address career stagnation.