| dc.description.abstract | The European Prison Education Association (EPEA) sees prison education as a moral right that
meets a basic human need. Similarly, the advocacy of human rights claims that people held in
prison are citizens, and that citizens are entitled to life-long education to ensure their full
development, therefore prisoners should be offered meaningful education hence
education is a very important human activity. It helps any society fashion and model individuals to
function well in their environment. The purpose of education is to equip the citizenry to reshape
their society and eliminate inequality. This study therefore sought to examine the influence of
prison education programme on growth of ex-convict small scale business venture in Taita Taveta
County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were: To examine the extent to which managerial skills
influences growth of ex-convict small scale business ventures: To establish how entrepreneurial
skill influences growth of ex-convict small scale business ventures; To assess the extent to which
technical skills influences growth of ex-convict small scale business ventures; To assess how
business finance skills influence growth of ex-convict small scale business ventures and to
determine the extent to which capacity building influences growth of ex-convict small scale
business venture. Data was collected by use of a semi-structured questionnaire and an interview
guide from the target population. The study focused on a total of 300 ex-convicts in Taita Taveta
County that hosts four penal institutions namely; Voi prison, Taveta prison, Wundanyi and
Manyani Maximum Security prison. From the four penal institutions in Taita Taveta county the
data base for Release (those completely served sentence, paid fine, power of mercy and appeal on
the sentence) for three years (2012- 2014) indicates 1,800 out of which 300 are from the Taita
Taveta locality. The researcher also targeted 80 prison technical instructors who are tasked in
training the inmates stationed in four penal institutions in Taita Taveta County. The researcher
sampled size 60 ex-convict and 16 prison technical instructors for the study. From the findings of
the study, the researcher concluded that majority of small scale business ex-convicts had
managerial skills, entrepreneurial skills, and technical but were less adequate in business finance
skills and better placed as far as capacity building is concerned. The prison education programme
was found to be of great benefit to the ex-convicts and the benefit trickle down to the community at
large. The relationship between the objectives of the study was positive but business finance skill
need to be improved as many ex-convicts expressed their inadequacy in that area. It was
recommended that development and coordination of re-intergration programme activities with
conjuction with community based stakeholders and Ngos to receive immediate attention and form
a core part of a new after care policy; the Kenya prison should work with the county governments
to assist in reintergration of ex-convicts back in the society an assist them in starting businesses
through funding and subsidied business registration. The government should also assist them
through the uwezo fund to start off their business venture and update prisoner earning scheme to
reflect the current economic status. | en_US |
