Kenya has been widely criticized for its on-going abuse of human rights and corruption in government administration more specifically the prison system. Moreover, the prison system in Kenya has been termed to be dilapidated since they were adopted from the colonial administration in 1963 after gaining independence. The paper looks at the utilitarian rationale of punishment that supports the prisons as rehabilitation institutions that aim to reform prisoners therefore reforming them towards proper societal norms. This paper critically reviews various studies carried out by other researchers and authors that disparagingly look at and have elaborated the understanding of the prison system in Kenya. Additionally, the paper identified the challenges of the prison system that includes the punitive and dire conditions in prisons since independence, inadequate legal representation, usage of drugs by inmates. Moreover, there is mistreatment of prisoners and lack of the privileges and rights, and eventually, lack of independence oversight of the prison system with regard to prisoners. At the same time, the challenges facing the prison officers or staff as identified in this paper include; inadequacy of skills, poor working conditions/environment and unfavourable scheme of service, inadequate in supply of food and clothing and varied perception by the civil society and corruption within the prison walls. The paper concludes that the correctional services are in dire need of reforms because of the earlier mentioned challenges facing both the prisoners and the prison staff. The paper recommends that reflective policies need to advocate for prison welfare and also securing their rights of prisoners. Furthermore, there is need for stakeholder participation, improved training especially those involved directly in the reforming the prison system.

Community policing is an integral component in ensuring that there is no insecurity incidence in the community. Accordingly, the Kenyan government introduced the concept of community policing which became effective in the Kibaki regime. It was seen as the interaction of the police and the community members, thus with the view of ensuring that they are safe from criminal activities especially from the vigilante groups. Community policing has been seen as an effort to prevent crime and at the same time ensure communal participation towards stamping out crime at communal level. This paper is a critical review of the various attempts to identify the concept of community policing, more specifically, identifying the benefits and challenges of Kenyan community policing system. This paper recommends that concerned stakeholders should devise ways of ensuring that policies on community policing reflect the needs and aspirations of all the citizens in all regions in the country. This can be done by ensuring that the Kenya government or successive regimes; and all sectors are committed towards community policing efforts. Critically, this will emphasize on the ability to address community policing strategies through public participation forums.