NCJ Number
206998
Date Published
2001
Length
114 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes the proceedings of a conference that addressed the following topics intended to improve prison policy in Kenya: prison conditions, prison management, penal reform, a sector-wide approach for administering justice, and community involvement in the criminal justice system.
Abstract
Conference discussions of prison conditions in Kenya focused on the current situation in Kenyan prisons, the rights of inmates and corrections officers to medical care, and the Penal Reform Institute's international program to improve prison conditions in Africa. In discussing a regional perspective on prison management, the conference participants addressed the revision of prison legislation in Uganda and the CESCA Arusha Declaration, which contains standards for good prison management. Issues discussed in considering penal reform included penal reform in Nigeria, the Zimbabwe experience of penal reform, challenges in implementing community service orders, the role of parliamentarians in penal reform, and the role of the police in the penal reform process. In deliberations on a sector-wide approach to administering justice, the conference focused on evaluations of current policies for community-based offender rehabilitation programs and the Uganda sector-wide approach to criminal justice. The discussion of community involvement in the criminal justice system encompassed the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) and the community in the administration of justice, the role of NGO's in the rehabilitation process, the media's role in administering justice, and the role of the international community in supporting national and regional programs of penal reform. Appended prisoners' memorandum, a list of conference participants, and international instruments and declarations on prison conditions and the administration of justice