The Prisons department has partnered with an NGO, Clean Start Africa, to train female inmates in Eldoret on parenting, anger management and social support programmes.
Some female prison warders and over 70 inmates at the Eldoret GK prison graduated after a three-month training by experts from Clean Start Africa in collaboration with prisons officers.
Clean Start Africa CEO Teresa Njoroge and Senior Superintendent of Prison Patricia Makali hosted the graduation at the prison where the inmates said they had greatly benefitted from the training which helped them learn how to control anger and socialise positively despite being incarcerated.
Some of the inmates said they were in jail because of crimes like murder which they committed because of uncontrolled anger.
“We are here to train the inmates and tell them that being in jail is not the end of life. Such skills are important especially for those who will be released and reintegrated with their families and society,” Njoroge said.
Njoroge who is a former banker, said she had once been incarcerated at the Langata Women Prision and after being released, she teamed up with others to form the Clean Start Africa to help train inmates.
“We now work in all prisons and have more than 50 sites where we support the inmates or former inmates,” she said.
Njoroge said many female inmates were battling with loss of self-esteem and stigmatisation by society, and that through the training, they had been able to help them build self-esteem and be ready to face life positively.
She noted that for those released, many find it hard to start life afresh out of prison but Clean Start Africa helps to give them a second chance in life by sensitising communities on the need to embrace the former inmates.
She said the prisons department was doing a great job in reforming the inmates noting that there was need for the government to consider issuing certificates of good conduct to those who prove they had changed after incarceration.
“It’s true the prisons department does a great job in reforming the inmates and if the government believes in their work, then time has come for us to appreciate that work by giving out certificates of good conduct to those who are released and prove that they have completely changed,” Njoroge said.
Njoroge said some of the inmates are mothers with their children in jail and the training on parenting is useful for them as it helps them manage their situation with good parenting skills.
Makali said they were happy that the commissioner of prisons had approved the training among other programmes to help the inmates.
“Because of the training we have seen real change in the behaviour of many of the inmates and we encourage that we get more this training to help all inmates,” Makali said.
She said the training was open to all willing inmates.
Those who graduated were issued with certificates and other gifts to encourage them.
