Seven inmates were on Wednesday awarded in a colourful ceremony at the Kamiti Maximum in Nairobi for a successful completion of safety and disaster training course.
The training was offered by St John’s Ambulance in conjunction with Kamiti Maximum prison management .
The team, all serving various sentences were also trained on basic emergency situations and how to attend to victims.
“Today were are happy that seven inmates have successfully completed the course and equipped with various important skills. This is part of the correctional measure in this facility to help them reform.” Henry Kisingu, officer in charge of the facility said. St John’s Chief Executive Officer Albert Muturi awarded them the certificates of completion and competence.
“As St John’s Ambulance, we will always be on the forefront in offering such trainings. These are skills they can apply anywhere during an emergency even after they are reintegrated with the
society.” He said.
The inmates were also counseled on how to become resourceful members of the society and to disengage in illegal acts.
The training comes at a time cases of prison break by inmates are on the rise in major correctional facilities in what has been attributed to weak surveillance systems.
In January last year, Prison Warders at the Kamiti Maximum Prison in Nairobi foiled an attempted prison break masterminded by two condemned convicts, both sentenced to life imprisonment identified as Cosmas Mogaka and Hassan Mangale.
The two were held at Shimo la Tewa from 2009 after being transferred from Kwale prison where they were jailed on death row for robbery with violence before the sentences were overturned to life on appeal.
In 2014, violent protest erupted at the same correctional facility after convicts temporarily blocked security search that led to the recovery of 80 cell phones and 2,144 sim-cards mobile alongside other
contrabands being used to intimidate targets and coordinate execution of criminal acts including kidnapping.
Majority of the inmates held at Kamiti are serving capital sentence and, currently, inmates’ national total population stands at over 52,942.
Organised crimes have widely infiltrated in the penal institutions a scenario that has not only compromised management of prisons but also national security.
