Economy

Prisoners to receive fresh bedding in new financial year

prison

Kenya prison officers walk past the entrance of the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Prisoners will receive new bedding in the financial year starting July 1 after Parliament allocated an extra Sh342.1 million to the State Department for Correction Services.

The Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs increased the Prisons Services budget by Sh6.5 billion for the purchase of bedding, uniforms for prison staff, food rations for inmates, domestic travel and subsistence allowances as well as tractors and seeds for the Prisons Department.

“The additional allocation of Sh342.1 million will cater for the purchase of prisoner’s bedding and linen,” said George Murugara, who chairs the committee.

“The State Department has been experiencing an acute shortage of prisoner’s beddings as a result of limited funds.”

He told the Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) that the department has only been able to procure and issue bedding to 22,779 inmates against an annual average population of 57,000 inmates.

The BAC is currently receiving recommendations on the scrutiny of the 2023/24 budget estimates by the various departmental committees.

The committee has allocated an additional Sh1.2 billion for the purchase of uniforms for the Prisons staff.

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