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Directorate of Operations

The Directorate is responsible to the Commissioner General of Prison for effective and efficient coordination and management of the prisons facilities countrywide. In addition, it controls the following units; Security, logistics and transport, Facilities and infrastructure development and maintenance, Welfare and Chaplaincy, Intra-governmental relations and state functions, Prisoners management and programmes, Remands and administration of justice, Prisons intelligence, Forensic and Prisoners Data Base Management, Communications including telecommunications and signal branches. Specifically, the Directorate performs the following tasks:

1. Providing protective security in all prisons countrywide including provision of s p e c i a l stores and surveillance equipment’s and ensuring that they are used appropriately.

2. Carrying out inspection of penal institutions at regular intervals as directed by the Commissioner General of prisons to assess the security situation as well as the operational issues of the institutions.

3. Controlling and issuing of permits for special visits to prison institutions including permits to religious ministers.

4. Chairman of the Departmental Uniforms Designing Committee.

5. Chairing of any forum established by the Commissioner General of Prisons to conduct an inquiry into any incident which may impede security or cause of security breaches/lapses with a view to restoring normalcy i.e. injury or death of inmates or death of staff in the line of duty, sudden or unnatural deaths of persons in custody in liaison with police, fire outbreaks, riots within the prisons, jailbreaks, escapes or natural disaster which affects the security of the prisons directly or indirectly.

6. Member of Departmental Disciplinary Committee.

7. Coordinating state functions/ national celebrations including being a member of the national celebration committee;

8. Liaising with the R e g i o n a l and County security committees with regard to the security of penal institutions in their areas of jurisdiction in order to ensure normal operations of the prisons and that any issue touching on the security of prisons are expeditiously dealt with.

9. All matters related to capital punishment in liaison with the Commissioner and the Attorney General’s Chambers.

10. General superintendence over the prisons signal`s branch in liaison with the Chief Telecommunications Engineer.

11. All matters concerning admissions into Borstal Institutions and Youth Corrective Training Centers as follows;

    I. Confirmation of Borstal Institutions and Y.C.T.C. vacancies to the Probation Officers and Law Courts.

    II. Leave of absence and discharge on license of Borstal Institutions Inmates.

    III. Initiating action on minutes of the Board of Visitors.

    IV. Revocation of license for discharge and leave of absence for Borstal Institutions Inmates.

    V. Initiating follow-up action as required by Law Courts and Probation Officers in respect of discharged Borstal Institution Inmates.

    VI. Maintenance of Registers in respect of Discharge on License and Leave of absence for Borstal Institution Inmates.
12. Escape of persons in custody;
    i. Maintenance of escapees register

    ii. Initiating action on serious escapes from custody in consultation with Commissioner of Prisons and relevant officers.

    iii. Procurement and storage of committal warrants and prisoners record sheets of escapees.
13. Implementation of Prison contingencies in consultation with the Commissioner General of Prisons.

14. Coordinating transport services to facilitate administration of justice by

ensuring prompt and timely production of all prisoners to courts;

15. Coordinating the activities of the Intelligence ,F o r e n s i c and p risoners D ata B ank Management U nits for the enhancement of security in all prisons through development of broad based policies, including working with other security agencies to develop crime prevention strategies in order to ensure public safety and security;

16. Authorizing and coordinating all forms of visits to prisoners of all categories and censorship of letters to and from inmates under special and maximum security conditions;

17. All matters concerning prisoner’s photographs in consultation with appropriate officers and criminal records office including training of staff in photography.

18. Control of security/ security officers at Prisons Headquarters.

19. General and protective security d u t i e s including control, distribution, custody and disposal of special stores.

20. Arrangement of transfer of prisoners either o n security grounds or for purpose of decongestion.

21. Processing recommendations for release of prisoners on parole in consultations with DCGP and Officers in Charge.

22. Overseeing canine and horse units.

23. Receiving and acting on incident and security reports.

24. Any other duties a s s i g n e d by the Commissioner General of Prisons from time to time.

Government Services

Directorates