Kenya’s Correctional Service Week 2025 opened on Tuesday with renewed focus on rehabilitation, education, and vocational training as key strategies to reduce repeat offenses and promote the successful reintegration of offenders into society.
Speaking during the official opening of the three-day event themed “Efficient Service Delivery for the Common Good,” Defense Cabinet Secretary, Soipan Tuya reaffirmed the government’s commitment to strengthening the country’s correctional system through reforms anchored in human dignity, professionalism, and innovation.
“The government will continue to support key reforms aimed at modernizing correctional management and promoting efficiency,” said Tuya.
“We are seeing progress in reintegration programmes, vocational training, offender aftercare, and digital innovations that strengthen case management and record systems. These are clear building blocks of a modern, efficient, and people-centred correctional service.”
Tuya further noted that significant investments are being directed toward improving infrastructure, staff welfare, and training facilities across Kenya’s correctional institutions.
She emphasized the need for environments that foster learning, mental wellness, and vocational growth, saying they are critical to transforming offenders into productive citizens.
State Department for Correctional Services Principal Secretary, Salome Beacco, said her department remains committed to building a correctional service that stands as a pillar of national pride, contributing directly to Kenya’s development agenda, peace, and social cohesion.
“We envision institutions that are self-sustaining, rehabilitative, secure, and restorative; officers who are empowered, ethical, and professional; and communities that receive back reformed individuals as productive citizens rather than rejected outcasts,” she stated.
The event also drew international participation, with Azerbaijan’s Deputy Minister of Justice Major General Mirsaleh Seyidov pledging his country’s support to Kenya’s reform agenda.
“The exchange of best practices between Kenya and Azerbaijan will inspire both nations and further improve their correctional systems,” he said.
Commissioner General of Prisons, Patrick Aranduh, described Correctional Service Week as a time for reflection and recommitment.
“Efficiency is not just numbers, it is about the impact on those entrusted to us,” he remarked.
Probation and Aftercare Service Secretary Christine Obondi lauded the department’s steady progress since the initiative’s inception three years ago, noting that Kenya is steadily advancing toward a more rehabilitative and humane correctional system.
