RWI Prison Program 2021-2023

In 2022, one of the major achievements under Component 1: Harmonising Correctional Law and Policy with International standards and the expected Outcome: increased, evidence-based and gender sensitive alignment of correctional law and policy with international standards was the adoption of the National Correctional Policy at ministry level (November 2022). In addition to the incorportation of relevant international human rights standards, the policy call for gender-responsive approaches in the management of offenderes and vulnerable groups, as well as aadoption of gender-sensitive administrative practices within the Services. Due to the late adoption of the policy, key legislation and policy documents which is critical to alignments of laws and policies with international standards did not take place during the period. A research framework was also developed and adopted during the period. Achievements towards the expected outcome under Component 2: Mainstreaming Human Rights Capacity in the Kenyan Correctional Services and the expected outcome enhanced professionalism and integration across the correctional services and other justice sector actors were the issuance of a directive by the Commissioner General of Prisons in 2022 to all prisons instructing them to utilise risk, needs and responsivity (RNR) tools developed by RWI in collaboration with the Swedish Prisons and Probation Services as their daily tool of operations in classification of prisoners. This directive is significant to the cooperation as it improves the professionalism of prison officers trained under the cooperation through the application of the tools, improving prisoner management practices. During the period, the final version of the PACS Field Training Manual on the international standards, including the Bangkok Rules, was finalized and adopted by PACS. Component 3: Enhancing Multi-Stakeholder Coordination and Cooperation and the expected outcome area: Strengthened cooperation and usage of mechanisms to further multi-stakeholder engagements and coordination in the administration of justice. The component is addressed by the Justice Cooperation Project (JCP), which is an inter-agency initiative that was launched in Naivasha in 2020. The primary objective of this project is to facilitate collaboration among various stakeholders within the criminal justice sector, to have a comprehensive and holistic approach towards managing offenders in contact with the law in Naivasha, involving the Judiciary, Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP), National Police Service (NPS), National Council for the Administration of Justice (NCAJ) PACS and KPS. During the period, one coordination meeting was held to jointly develop and adopt project implementation guidelines which inter alia highlighted gender-specific needs of women offenders and prioritises parole for women prisoners. This meeting also saw the nomination of members from the various criminal justice actors to the operational committee and consensus building, particularly between KPS and PACS on information sharing, and a joint effort to improve the assessment, classification, and sentencing of offenders using scientific assessments. Some key actions taken by KPS and PACS that contributed to achievement of this outcome included sharing of offender files from PACS to KPS following a directive from PACS headquarters, development and dissemination of a sexual gender-based violence partner organizations cluster for criminal justice agencies in Naivasha, and increased referrals and placement of offenders by the courts to non-custodial sentences, particularly probation sentences. In 2023, with a policy in place, the programme focused among other thing on identifying gaps in existing laws to align with the new National Correctional Policy. Activities during the year that has contributed to the three first components/outcome areas are: - Policy Review: The Prisons Act was reviewed and revised through a series of technical review and consultation meetings leading to a final draft presented to the Principal Secretary. - Research: A research study on Addressing Recidivism: Unraveling the Factors, Gender Dynamics and Effects of Classification and Assessment of Offenders was designed, followed by a research methodology workshop, data collection and data analysis, involving researchers from KCS. - Gender: The gender needs assessment commenced in 2022 was finalized and the findings and recommendation presented to the KCS leadership. A tailor-made gender mainstreaming training curriculum was developed, and a targeted training delivered to senior KCS officials. - The Human Rights Advisors Conference and the Human Rights Officers Conference were completed during the fourth quarter of 2023. - International Corrections and Prisons Association Annual Conference: RWI programme staff participated in the ICPA Conference together with the KCS Principal Secretary and delivered a presentation on the Programmes experience with human rights standards in correctional policy and practice. - Justice Cooperation Project: A training on Motivational Interview, a case management workshop and a training on Change Intervention Program were conducted.

The main objective with this programme is to enhance compliance with international standards in the management of Kenya's correctional system, through continued support to the development and implemention of a comprehensive correctional services policy in accordance with the Constitution of Kenya. The programme primarily seeks to directly tackle some of the reasons hindering achievement of this objective relating to gaps among the main stakeholder institutions, i.e. the KCS and other justice sector institutions and actors, and relating in this sense to gaps not only in terms of capacity but also in terms of the legal and policy framework, institutional structures and inter-agency cooperation. Component 1: Harmonising Kenyan Correctional Law and Policy with International Standards. Main objective: Review and develop, as necessary, Kenyan correctional law, policy and regulations for compliance with relevant international human rights standards. Component 2: Mainstreaming Human Rights Capacity in the Kenyan Correctional Services. Main objective: Create sustainable capacity and structures within the Kenyan Correctional Services to understand, assess, train and implement relevant international human rights standards. Component 3: Enhancing Multi-Stakeholder Coordination and Coorperation Main objective: Support and coordinate targeted Kenyan justice sector agencies to operationalize international human rights standards across the corrections continuum. Expected impact is to have contributed to increased enjoyment of human rights in the administration of justice in Kenya.