CAPACITY BUILDING TECHNIQUES AND RECIDIVISM PREVENTION AMONG THE PRISON INMATES IN SELECTED PRISONS IN NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Prisons were established with the purpose of rehabilitating and reintegrating offenders into the community. Despite going through prisons, a great number of offenders still commit the same crimes. The study aimed at assessing the influence of the capacity building techniques employed in rehabilitation of the inmates in prisons to address recidivism in Nairobi County Kenya. The study was guided by Reintegration theory and Risk need responsively model. A convergent parallel research design Mixed method research approach was adopted.Six (6) prisons containing inmates imprisoned upto 10 years were selected purposively since the inmates were likely to go back to the community and were in the age of majority,further by use of simple random sampling, 323 re-offenders were sampled, 36 leaders of the inmates selected purposefully and 22 Key informants from prison administration and 4 probation officers selected purposively. The study used questionnaires, focus group and interview guide in data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze quantitative data using SPSS version 25 and was presented by use of tables, Qualitative data was analyzed through thematic analysis and presented through verbatim.Study findings revealed that the Capacity building programs positively correlated at (r=069).In conclusion the study points out that rehabilitation needs to address specific risks/needs of the inmates by collaborating prison and probation departments to ensure inmates are helped undergo pre-entry assessment to prisons and are transitioned well to community upon release. A comparative study on the effectiveness of prison rehabilitation approaches and probation rehabilitation approaches needs to be conducted