Thrive for Good at Kitale Medium Prison

First of all, welcome to Kitale Medium Prisons. My names are David Biwot, a Senior Superintendent of Prisons, and currently, I’m the Farm Manager.

Before Thrive came, we really were concentrating on only kales that were grown in the traditional way, spraying with chemicals, normal fertilizers.

For now, with the new technology of cultivation, healthwise, our inmates have improved significantly because nowadays they take amaranth, which is high in iron. They take organically-grown kales. We have spinach, we have cabbages, and a variety of others.

The numbers of inmates that are referred, who are referred for further checkups or medical have significantly reduced, close to 50%.

Thrive has really done a tremendous job in terms of support, both for the seed and the training. Currently, we have a permanent staff stationed within our facility who provides technical training to the inmates and also to the staff.

Thrive also supports us in terms of the seed capital. Thrive also supports us in terms of materials, tools, like jembes (hoes), slashers, protective materials. They really support us in terms of that one.

Currently, we are clocking one and a half, two acres comfortably with Thrive. We are also doing double digging in the entire farm. Initially, we were doing the normal farming, whereby we didn’t have beds, we didn’t make it the standard way, but now we are really doing all double digging.

The entire farm is under Thrive mode of cultivations. Currently, we have 1,500 beds, standard beds of 1 meter [1.5 meters] by 6 meters, but we intend at the entire exercise to have 2,000 beds.

We’ve managed to have a number of inmates to undergo the training on the mode of cultivation and the mode of production. The inmates have embraced the technology very well.

And currently, we have about two or three who have been released from this facility. They have changed under our procedures of correctional training. And now they are employed outside. One is actually employed as a garden assistant, helping a certain farmer, and the other two actually are doing their own cultivation. They are applying the same same skill that was trained here by the Thrive team. They are actually doing outside.

I’m really happy for the inmates who have really changed.