When Francisca Kamande, the Principal Probation Officer at Mogotio Probation Centre, runs short of seedling tubes, she turns to discarded milk packets, plastic water bottles and empty cement bags.
People serving community service orders at the centre use these materials to raise seedlings as part of their assigned environmental conservation work, helping sustain tree-planting efforts despite limited resources.
In an interview with Climate Action, Kamande said the discarded materials offer a low-cost alternative for raising seedlings in Mogotio, where water is scarce and funding is limited.
“We don't have those tubes,” she said, “so getting the tubes has been a very big challenge.”
State Department for Correctional Services Secretary for the Probation and Aftercare Service, Shadrack Kyengo Kavutai (left), presents an award to Mogotio probation principal probation officer Francisca Kamande during the Correctional Service Week Gala dinner event at the Edge Convention Centre in South C, Nairobi, on October 15, 2026.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
Mogotio's hot, dry conditions also make it difficult to keep young trees alive, adding to the challenges facing the centre's tree-growing efforts.
“Another challenge: Mogotio is a semi-arid area. So we don't have water throughout. You find that those trees sometimes dry up,” she said.
Despite these challenges, people serving community service orders through Mogotio Probation Centre have planted more than 10,000 trees over the past year across public institutions, including hospitals and schools.
This work, alongside Ms Kamande's push for practical green solutions, earned the centre recognition as a Green Champion during the 2026 Correctional Services Week.
“The initiative has made the people serving community service orders,” she explained, “learn and understand how to reuse waste productively, whether by growing trees at home or raising seedlings for sale.”
However, she explained that keeping the trees alive remains a challenge.
“The centre needs additional resources,” she said, “including a water tank and improved rainwater harvesting systems, to ensure seedlings receive enough water during dry periods.”
For her, the work is about giving people serving community service orders practical skills they can use after completing their sentences.
“When we are supervising them, they need to do work that gives back to the community,” Ms Kamande said, “tree planting allows them to learn a skill that can be applied beyond the centre.
She encourages them to replicate what they learn at home by growing trees and raising seedlings they can sell to earn an income.
“You can just recycle things that you have so that you can plant those trees and get some money,” she said.
At Mogotio sub-County Hospital, the team has planted fruit trees, hoping they will eventually provide produce for patients and reduce the hospital’s need to buy fruit.
“We are looking forward to the day that in four years to come, they will not be buying fruits," she said. “They will be able to just use what they have.”
“Mogotio is generally a very hot area, and the trees provide shade and make the environment more comfortable,” she said.
She says that the centre works with the forest department and the county environment department and receives seedlings through partnerships and donations.
Despite the difficulties, Kamande sees the award as recognition of collective effort rather than an individual achievement.
“This achievement is not for me,” She said. “It is for Mogotio, whose people have made it happen.”
At Ngeria Farm Prison in Uasin Gishu County, the green initiative takes a different form.
Farming is used to supplement food supplies for correctional facilities while giving inmates practical agricultural skills they can use after release.
Tuwei sustainability drive in Ngeria
Andrew Tuwei, the Officer in Charge of Ngeria Farm Prison, oversees an operation that combines crop production, tree growing and livestock keeping.
Mr Tuwei’s drive to strengthen agricultural production, tree growing and sustainable farm management at Ngeria Farm Prison earned the institution recognition in the prison farm category during the 2026 Correctional Services Week awards.
The farm covers 1,760 acres, of which about 800 acres are arable.
Speaking to Climate Action, Mr Tuwei said that approximately 450 acres are cultivated, while the remaining land includes pasture and grazing areas.
The farm produced about 5,800 bags of maize from approximately 400 acres in 2025, with each bag weighing 90 kilogrammes.
“The maize is transported to a mill in Naivasha for processing,” he explained, “before being repackaged and distributed to sister prisons.”
Freedom within Kenya Director Dr. Mary Waceke Thongoh presents an award to Ngeria Farm prison Commissioner Andrew C Tuwei during the Correctional Service Week Gala dinner event at the Edge Convention Centre in South C, Nairobi on October 15, 2026.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
According to him, the production helps reduce the amount of food the government has to purchase for correctional institutions, although it does not make the prison system fully self-sufficient.
“We cannot say we can be self-sufficient in food production,” he noted, “but we supplement and do a saving to the government.”
The farm operates under a revolving-fund arrangement, with revenue from produce returned to the government.
“Alongside maize, we grow other cereals and fruits, including avocados,” he said, “and keep livestock such as sheep, goats and pigs.”
Tree growing is another part of the operation. Mr Tuwei said more than 300,000 trees had been planted at the farm.
According to him, inmates participate in farming and learn horticulture, grafting and seedling propagation.
“Most of them are semi-literate,” he said, “the best thing they can do is farming because it is practical.”
Those who complete relevant training can obtain certificates, giving them evidence of practical skills they may use when they return to their communities.
Mogotio probation principal, probation officer Francisca Kamande (right), with Ngeria Farm prison Commissioner of prison Andrew C Tuwei pose for a photo with their awards during the Correctional Service Week Gala dinner event at the Edge Convention Centre in South C, Nairobi on October 15, 2026.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
For inmates who have limited formal education, the ability to grow crops, care for livestock or propagate seedlings can offer a route into work that does not depend entirely on academic qualifications.
“The aim is to give inmates skills they can apply outside prison,” he explained, “rather than leaving them with only the experience of serving a sentence.”
The initiatives at Mogotio and Ngeria form part of a wider effort by correctional institutions to expand tree growing, reduce environmental pressure and equip inmates with practical skills.
Speaking during the fourth edition of Correctional Services Week, held under the theme Transforming Correctional Services through Technology and Green Solutions, Dr Salome Beacco, the Principal Secretary for Correctional Services, said the department was showcasing its greening initiatives alongside rehabilitation work and innovation.
Correctional Services Principal Secretary Dr. Salome Beacco during the Correctional Service Week Gala dinner event at the Edge Convention Centre in South C, Nairobi, on October 15, 2026.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
“The recognition is meant to motivate others across the correctional services to adopt similar initiatives,” she said.
The department comprises the Kenya Prison Service, which manages custodial institutions and the Probation and Aftercare Service, which oversees non-custodial interventions.
Beacco said correctional services had planted more than 10 million trees and established more than 66 tree nurseries across the country.
The institutions also donate seedlings to schools, hospitals and technical and vocational education and training institutions.
“Every second Thursday of the month, we grow trees; we plant trees in our correctional facilities,” she said.
She said the work was intended to contribute to the national target of growing 15 billion trees by 2032, while enabling correctional facilities to take greater responsibility for their own environmental management.
However, the department faces another challenge of its historical reliance on firewood.
“Correctional institutions have consumed upwards of 64,000 to 65,000 mature trees annually through their use of firewood,” she said.
The department is now working to shift facilities towards cleaner energy, including liquefied petroleum gas and solar power.
“We are moving away from biomass, cutting down trees,” she said, “we are going to be part of the solution because we plant very many trees.”
According to her, President William Ruto has directed public institutions to transition to clean energy by 2028.
“Around 20 per cent of correctional centres have transitioned to clean energy.” She noted. “We hope to complete the transition in correctional facilities by the end of the current financial year.”
Rebecca Miano, the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife, said that green solutions should be treated as an important part of how correctional institutions are planned and managed, rather than as an activity separate from their core work.
“Green solutions deserve an equally prominent place in the planning and management of our institutions,” she said.
Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano during Correctional Service Week Gala dinner event at the Edge Convention Centre in South C, Nairobi, on October 15, 2026.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
She further added that lower operating costs could improve service delivery, benefit the environment and equip offenders with skills relevant to the emerging green economy.
“I challenge you to turn these priorities into practical innovation and measurable results,” she said.
