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{
    "id": 590007,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/590007/?format=api",
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    "content": "framework of penal reforms, so that they can bring order and transformation to the criminal justice system. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as they set out for this mission, they must be persuaded in their hearts that prison has been one of the institutions that has led to reforms. That, I must say. When there are cases of execution and torture in prison, we have seen prison commandants and the commissioners of prisons act on it. It is not like some of the other services where these matters are hardly taken a notch higher. Therefore, we need to look at both the hardware and software. We need to look into the welfare of the prison warders. I have visited prisons and you do not need to be in jail to see the lifestyles that they live in. They live in shacks; very deplorable conditions. Therefore, even this has a psychological impact. On one side you are dealing with prisoners in very difficult circumstances and on the other, you live in an equally imprisoned kind of environment. The only difference between you and the prisoner is the fact that you can at least go to the night club in the evening. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, these are some of the issues that we must look at and interrogate. In terms of police reforms, the people who are forgotten are prison warders. We are looking at the welfare of the administration and regular police but not that of the prison warders. In fact, who is advocating for the rights of prison warders? You might want to suggest a Prison Commission that will look into the rights and welfare of prison warders. We can then strengthen and enforce some of the reforms with respect to prison warders. We will look at it this way. When security agents are stretched, prison warders are sometimes used in maintenance of law and order. They are officers trained in their own right. These are people who have developed such massive capacity in terms of handling some to the worst members of society like rapists, murderers and serial killers. Kenya has led through the flagship of not enforcing the death penalty. I think we have not enforced it since the hanging of Mr. Ochuka and other coup perpetrators. That is a positive thing but you can now imagine the number of death row convicts that prison warders have to deal with on a regular basis. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I believe this is a progressive Motion. We need to look at how we can assist babies who are born to imprisoned mothers; how we can care for them and provide for their schooling. These are all progressive reforms that we must undertake in this country. I laud Sen. Adan who was my colleague and the Commissioner in charge of penal reforms in the former Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), for having lived with that spirit and brought this Motion. I beg to second."
}