NAIROBI, Kenya – Defence Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya has called for a stronger focus on rehabilitation, education, and human dignity in Kenya’s correctional facilities, saying reforms must move beyond containment to meaningful transformation of offenders.
Speaking during the Correctional Service Week 2025 forum themed “Efficient Service Delivery for the Common Good,” Tuya said the State Department for Correctional Services is reshaping the country’s penal system into one grounded in rehabilitation, community service, and respect for human rights.
“We are seeing progress in reintegration programmes, vocational training, offender aftercare, and digital innovations that strengthen case management and record systems. These are clear building blocks of a modern, efficient, and people-centred correctional service,” said Tuya.
The CS highlighted ongoing government investments in correctional infrastructure, staff welfare, and training, adding that these reforms were essential to improve efficiency and ensure the justice system delivers on its rehabilitative mandate.
“The government will continue to support key reforms aimed at modernising correctional management and promoting efficiency,” she affirmed.
Push for Rehabilitative Justice
Principal Secretary Salome Beacco reiterated the government’s vision for a correctional system that supports national cohesion and development.
She said the department seeks to build self-sustaining, secure, and restorative institutions run by professional officers and supported by communities that accept reformed individuals back as productive citizens.
“We envision institutions that are self-sustaining, rehabilitative, secure, and restorative; officers who are empowered, ethical, and professional; and communities that receive back reformed individuals as productive citizens rather than rejected outcasts,” Beacco said.
Global Partnerships
The week also underscored the growing international collaboration in prison reform.
Azerbaijan’s Deputy Minister of Justice, Major General Mirsaleh Seyidov, pledged support for Kenya’s ongoing reforms and emphasised the value of exchanging best practices between the two countries.
Seyidov noted that the relationship between Kenya and Azerbaijan had strengthened following bilateral engagements between Presidents William Ruto and Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“The meeting between our Presidents gave a significant boost to our bilateral ties,” he said.
Commitment to Change
Prisons Commissioner General Patrick Aranduh described Correctional Service Week as a moment for renewed dedication, saying efficiency should be measured by the impact on lives, not statistics.
Probation and Aftercare Service Secretary Christine Obondi noted that the annual forum—now in its third year—has accelerated the implementation of reforms and strengthened coordination across correctional agencies.
The event brought together senior government officials, including Public Investment and Asset Management PS Cyrell Odede, Tourism PS John Ololtuaa, National Government Coordination PS, and Youth Affairs and Creative Economy PS Fikirini Jacobs, signalling broad inter-agency support for reforming Kenya’s correctional services.
