Elgeyo Marakwet County is the first devolved unit to rehabilitate petty offenders under the Community Service Order (CSO).
On his invitation, Governor Wisley Rotich on Monday, March 25, 2024, hosted the Principal Secretary for Correctional Services, Salome Beacco, to launch the program.
Rotich disclosed that the County is partnering with the criminal justice system, as a pilot County, to rehabilitate offenders in the communities and reintegrate them back into society.
Under the CSO program, offenders who are considered low risk are made to pay for their sins through community service and also given a second chance at life.
“Instead of punitive imprisonment that often transforms petty offenders to hard-core criminals and congests prisons, offenders will instead be corrected by society as they offer service to them,” added the Governor.
The Governor also said the County Government will support the CSO program by working with the Prisons Department to assign offenders released under CSO to offer services in County projects and programmes like hospital and road works.
Earlier, the Governor accompanied the PS and her delegation to Tambach Prison where 40 low-risk offenders were released to serve non-custodial sentences through community service.
