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{
    "id": 593377,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/593377/?format=api",
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    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have talked about the mainstream prisons. I have not had the privilege or pleasure of the disadvantage of being a guest in any of the mainstream prisons. I know that there are Members of this Senate who have been guests in the prisons not for criminal matters but because of fighting for the rights of Kenyans; being part of the liberation struggle. We should be proud of these people and hold them in high esteem. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, during the darker days in the history of this nation – I want to believe that at that time before the Governance, Justice, Law and Order Sector (GJLOS) Programme that Sen. Murungi has talked about – the prisons were almost a deathbed. Those who ended up in prisons spent many years. There are some of them who spent many years such that by the time they were coming out, the children they had left at home had already gone to school and completed their schooling. These are the true heros of this nation. We need to always recognise and remember them for that. When they ask us to give them an opportunity to run the affairs of this nation, we should give them a keener attention. Borstal institutions have not received a lot of attention. Those are the institutions that take care of young criminal offenders between the age of 15 and 17 years. There are only three such institutions in Kenya, namely, Shimo la Tewa, Shikusa Borstal Institution and the Kamiti Youth Corrective Training Centre. There is no facility that caters for young female criminal offenders. This means that young girls who find themselves in trouble for one reason or the other, end up in mainstream prisons where they are mixed up with adults. This is a very unfortunate situation. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in these three Borstal institutions, it is almost a death sentence for these young criminal offenders. It is not a correctional endeavour. When you look at the conditions at these institutions and look at the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, there is a huge incompatibility. There are some things that we take for granted must be present in every prison but we have a new Constitution. That is one thing that people tend to forget. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we ended up at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) about a month ago and I was privileged to be in your company in your capacity as a national leader. It was evident that the Criminal Investigations Department and very senior officers within that department were not conscious of the progressive provisions in our Constitution. They still hold on to things of the past and think of CID or Police Headquarters being an enemy of the people rather than being a friend of the people to ensure justice, law and order. In these Borstal institutions, you find they do not have adequate capacity and the young criminal offenders who we should be correcting are sleeping on the floor or sharing beds. They are still flocked and suffer corporal punishment. We assume corporal punishment should be meted out in prison. It is inconsistent with the Constitution. I do not think there is a provision where it provides that corporal punishment is banned but in prisons it is allowed. These are things that go on there. Boys aged 15 to 17 years still spend days larbouring under the hot sun. To us Senators, these may be our grandchildren or our children whom we dot on so much but they may break the law and end up in these institutions. They are still subjected to hard labour and they do not receive proper The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}