The State Department for Correctional Services has launched a public participation exercise on the development of legal and policy frameworks for correctional services.
The consultations, which will continue over the next one month, will seek to consolidate stakeholders’ views on the proposed Correctional Services Bill and policy aimed at reviewing and consolidating all laws related to correctional services and offender management.
Presiding over the launch on August 2, Prime Cabinet Secretary, Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary and Acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said the consultations will aid in the engagement of key players that will see issues such as congestion, poor living conditions of both offenders and staff appropriately addressed.
He said the reform agenda was timely as it will align the correctional legal framework to the constitution and the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda.
“This process therefore marks a new dawn in the Government’s commitment to overhaul the legal framework for correctional services, to align it with the Constitution and the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda,” he said.
He said the Correctional Service Bill will amend existing Acts such as the Probation of Offenders Act Cap 64 and Community Service Orders Act, Cap 93 and repealing the Prisons Act Cap 90 and the Borstal Institutions Act Cap 92.
State Department for Correctional Services Principal Secretary Dr. Salome M. Beacco congratulated the technical Committee that was appointed to develop the legal framework.
She said the State Department for Correctional Services sits at the core of the national security and the wider criminal justice sector as it is the Government Agency responsible for coordinating the implementation of Correctional Policy and programmes.
“The State Department contributes to community safety through humane containment of offenders and by ensuring that the offenders are rehabilitated, reformed and reintegrated back into the society,” she observed.
The proposals contained in the Correctional Services Bill and Policy which will be subjected to public participation include rights and obligations of offenders, duties and responsibilities of Prison and Probation officers, welfare programs for prison and probation officers, management of both custodial and non-custodial offenders, aftercare and resettlement, internal complaints mechanism, among others.
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