- She was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of Sh6,000 in default to serve one month imprisonment.
- Unable to raise the amount, she went to custody and had served three weeks before the revision and was due for release on March 19, 2024.
Image: The Star
A woman convicted of selling alcoholic drinks without a licence is thanking her lucky stars after the court made a decision to release her early.
During the revision of the sentence, Kisumu High Court Judge Roselyne Aburili noted that this is in line with the Judiciary's prison decongestion exercise.
In the case, following her arraignment, Lydia Chepkemoi pleaded guilty to the offence where she was found with three litres of alcohol.
She was then convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of Sh6,000 in default to serve one-month imprisonment.
Unable to raise the amount, she went to custody and had served three weeks before the revision and was due for release on March 19, 2024.
Delivering the verdict, Justice Aburili noted that the woman is a first offender and a mother of three with one of her children being eight months old.
Taking the above into consideration, the court let Chepkemoi go.
"In the spirit of prison decongestion, and the convict being a first offender, I hereby revise the sentence imposed and order that unless otherwise lawfully held, Lydia Chepkemoi shall forthwith be unconditionally discharged and released from prison," Aburili ruled on March 11.
The prison decongestion exercise has been at the forefront of the various talks at both the Judiciary and at the Ministry of Interior and National Administration.
In February, CS Kithure Kindiki said the government plans to use 'Power of Mercy' and other appropriate methods to decongest prisons and other correctional facilities by 50 per cent.
"We can use the power of mercy to address congestion in prisons mainly targeting the elderly and those inmates who have served long sentences," he said during a visit to Naivasha GK Prison on February 28.
Other measures the government has previously applied to tackle congestion include releasing petty offenders and expansion of probation and after-service programs targeting the reintegration of the offenders.
Kindiki’s predecessor, Fred Matiang’i in 2021 announced the release of nearly 5,000 petty offenders in a decongestion program involving the Judiciary and the Prisons services.
In July 2023, over 23, 000 inmates were freed from correctional facilities across the country in an effort by the government to decongest prisons.
As of September 2023, there were about 134 prison facilities across the country with a capacity to hold 30,000 inmates.
However, double the capacity being about 60,000 convicts, were being held in the facilities.
Besides decongestion, the state is also working towards improving the overall well-being of those who cannot benefit from non-custodial sentencing or early releases.
Kindiki announced of the plan, which is underway, to establish a prisoners' enterprise fund which would come in handy in supporting inmates as they left prisons.
"This fund will assist inmates with a start-up kit and a small grant which will help them reintegrate with the community once they are released," he stated.
They also get to learn skills to help them inside the prisons and out in the free world.