LIFE INCARCERATION AND PSYCHO-SOCIAL WELL-BEING OF INMATES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MALE AND FEMALE LIFERS IN SELECTED PRISONS IN KENYA

Abstract

Life incarceration is a way of confining a lawbreaker in prison, to separate them from the society. This ensures societal security, and the offender’s chance of rehabilitation. Although the number of life-incarcerated inmates is on the rise worldwide, there is scanty information in records concerning the psychological and social plight of lifers, based on gender in Kenya. The total isolation from one’s environment, society and family is likely to impact on the mental health and social relationship of the male and female life-sentenced inmates. The inmates may portray behaviours related to stress and rejection such as distress, withdrawal and violence, and this is likely to be influenced by gender. Therefore, this study intended to investigate the effect of life incarceration on the lifers’ psychological well-being and social relationships, by a comparison based on gender. The study was guided by four objectives, and four hypotheses. The study adopted the causal-comparative research design, which allowed for the comparison of the male and female lifers. The study was carried out in selected prisons in Kenya covering four geographical regions. The prisons of study included Nyeri Main Prison, Naivasha Maximum Prison, Lang’ata Women’s Prison and Kisumu Main Prison. The study population was 2816 life-imprisoned inmates in the four selected prisons. A sample size of 172 respondents was obtained from the population of study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 86 female respondents, while proportionate sampling technique was used to obtain a sample size of 86 male respondents for comparative purpose. The male respondents of the study were selected using simple random sampling technique. In addition to the lifers, one prison counsellor and six prison constables were purposively selected from each of the selected prisons to participate in the study. Therefore, the total number of respondents was 202. Data was collected using questionnaires and an interview schedule. A pilot study was conducted at Embu prison to establish the reliability of the research instruments. The reliability was estimated by use of Cronbach Coefficient Alpha. Reliability coefficients of 0.902 and 0.750 for lifers and constables questionnaires respectively were obtained. The validity of study tools were ascertained through the help of the expert judgment of the university supervisors and other research experts. The analysis of the data was done by use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The researcher also used descriptive statistics to analyze qualitative data thematically. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 was used for data analysis. Research hypotheses were tested at α=0.05 level of significance using regression and correlation analysis. The findings of this study indicated that life incarceration influences on the inmates psychosocial wellbeing, leading to deprivation, stress, identity loss and trauma. The lifers social relationship is also influenced at the family, inter-prisoners and staff-lifers level. The study established that there was a statistically significant difference on the effect of life incarceration based on gender. It was recommended that the prisons department should provide appropriate counseling services through professional counsellors to deal with lifers psychosocial needs. The ministry of defence needs to facilitate the organization of programmes tailored specifically for the life incarcerated inmates. These programmes should also address the issues of gender in order to take care of their unique plight. The society needs to be sensitized on the plight of the lifers to expand their knowledge and understanding of their experiences. This may help restore and enhance the social relationships.