Female Recidivism And Prison Rehabilitation: The Case Of Lang'ata Women Maximum Security Prison

Abstract

In many developing societies, the rate of female recidivism is on the increase. Against this background this study sought to explore the relationship between female recidivism and prison rehabilitation within the context of Lang’ata Women Maximum Security Prison. The objectives of the study were; to identify socio-demographic characteristics of female recidivists, to document the perceptions of female recidivists on prison rehabilitation programs, to assess the effect of inmate education on recidivism, to ascertain the influence of vocational training on female recidivism and to assess the impact of life skills training on female recidivism. The study adopted a descriptive research design and targeted long term, medium term and short term female recidivists. Stratified random sampling was employed to sample 52 respondents out of a target population of 130 prisoners. Questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data while an interview guide was used to collect qualitative data from 15 key informants. The findings of the study showed that majority of the respondents committed petty offences such as hawking without license, prostitution, being in possession of drugs, child abandoning and had committed these crimes mostly in informal settlements due to poverty. That the rehabilitation programmes offered skills and knowledge to inmates for use after release from prison to avoid reoffending but inadequate resources affected these programmes negatively. That most of the prisoners were released from prison before completing their education programmes. It’s therefore recommended that the Department of Probation and After care Services should be empowered to extend start-up funds and soft loans to female ex-convicts as an inducement to pursue legitimate modes of livelihoods and as a means of winning them from the pursuit of criminal enterprises. The Department of Correctional Services should be empowered through provision of adequate resources so as to be able to discharge its rehabilitation function completely and to reach out to ex-convicts and After Care Providers within the respective Communities. Penal institutions should enroll Prisoners into formal education programs at the start of their sentences, so as to be able to complete the education programs before completion of their sentences as this will earn them academic certificates, thus improving their sources of accessing gainful employments and/or other legitimate sources of livelihood. This study further recommends that a broader study involving more Penal Institutions and Recidivists be carried out in order to elicit more reliable and generalizable findings. Penologists should generate and disseminate Benchmarking and Case study results of reformed female ex-convicts, so as to motivate other Penal Institutions to borrow and implement their best practices.