Evaluating the nature of food served in selected prisons in Kenya.

Abstract

Catering in Kenyan prisons is an issue of great concern to the government and the entire society as it results in an increase in bad health and hardening of the behaviour of prisoners. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the nature of food served in Kenyan prisons. Purposive sampling and simple random sampling were used to select five prisons in Kenya and the research respondents respectively. The prisons selected were Eldoret men, Ngeria, Eldoret women, Kamiti Maximum and Langata Maximum women prisons. The sampling frame comprised of a population of 5,830 prisoners. A sample size of 387 prisoners was used in the study. Data collection instruments included structured questionnaires, participant observation schedules and conversations. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that the prescribed menus were not served and that the nature of food was undesirable and lacked any flavouring ingredients. The conclusion was that the quality of food served was poor hence, the need to overhaul and revamp the Prisons catering services. In addition, the Kenya Prisons Service Department need to urgently set up a catering department to professionally monitor the management of catering services in all prisons.

Keywords

• Food
• Nature of Food
• Prisons
• Kenya Prison Act Cap 90
• Ugali