Can coding give Kenya’s women prisoners a second chance?
Women at Langata maximum-security prison are hoping to change their fortunes Pic: Photo Courtesy
Can coding give Kenya’s women prisoners a second chance?
“When I came to prison I didn’t know computers.”
Dorcus, 44, is beaming as she pulls apart the central processing unit of one of the prison’s desktop computers, explaining to the newer classmates what each electrical component is for.
“Now I can do anything. I can even create you a computer,” she adds.
Dorcus is one of more than 500 prisoners at Langata maximum-security prison, the only women’s prison in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.
Some inmates are serving sentences of up to two years for hawking; selling things like peanuts or fruit on the side of the road.
Others are serving life sentences for much more serious offences, like murder or violent robbery. Whatever their crime, Kenya Prisons statistics from 2014 show between 60-80% of all inmates in the country will reoffend and land back in jail.READ MORE
