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The government will save billions of shillings annually by commuting jail terms for petty offenders to community service.

Principal Secretary for Correctional Services Mary Muthoni said releasing the offenders through the Community Service Order (CSO) will decongest prisons and save the government a lot of money used to feed them.

 “The government spends Sh270 daily to feed each prisoner. How much is the government spending to feed the about 60,000 prisoners in prisons across the country?” she posed.

 She said the resources saved would be directed to other government projects such as improving the living conditions of the correctional facilities.

 The PS spoke yesterday during a tree planting exercise at Marmanet forest in Laikipia County.  She said the government is rooting for the use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in a bid to reduce the population of people in prisons.  The PS said already her department was working with the Judiciary, probation and after care services to release petty offenders.