PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT PROGRAMS AND RECIDIVISM PREVENTION AMONG PRISON INMATES IN SELECTED PRISONS IN NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

The responsibility of the prisons is rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders to the community. Despite going through the prisons, a great number of offenders still commit crimes and are convicted again. The study aimed at assessing the Psychosocial Support offered to inmates to address recidivism in prisons in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study was guided by Reintegration theory and Cognitive behavioral theory. A convergent parallel research design- Mixed method research approach was adopted. Six prisons with inmates serving up to 10 years were selected purposively, simple random sampling technique was used to select 323 re- offenders, 36 leaders of the inmates were selected purposefully and 22 key informants from prison administration and 4 probation officers selected purposively. The study used questionnaires, focus group discussion schedules and interview guides in data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze quantitative data using, Qualitative data was analyzed through thematic analysis and presented through verbatim. The study found a weak positive overall correlation .0 46 which was statistically significant as (P-Value=0.000 < 0.05)