{"id":104,"date":"2018-05-03T17:13:28","date_gmt":"2018-05-03T16:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/mindfulleaderskenya\/?page_id=104"},"modified":"2026-03-31T15:32:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T15:32:40","slug":"kps-headquarters","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/mindful-leaders-kenya\/kps-headquarters\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya Prisons Service HQ"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kenya Prisons Service have been paramount in the partnership with the University of Exeter<\/p>\n

\"\"

Training in Embercombe<\/p><\/div>\n

to become pioneers in the integration of the Mindful programme into Kenyan prisons since 2015. Madam Mary Khaemba, Director of Offender Correction and Rehabilitation, was one of the first people to visit the UK to attend training at Embercombe with Dr Inma \u2013 Senior Lecturer in Leadership Studies\u00a0at the University of Exeter. It was from here that Madam Mary saw the benefit, potential and difference this could make within the Kenya Prisons Service, and embraced the opportunity to create a partnership.<\/p>\n

Madam Mary opened doors and encouraged growth within the prisons, enabling welfare officers to attend training directly with Dr Inma, as well as encouraging and empowering institutions to open their doors to the programme \u2013\u00a0which is how Dr Inma entered the prisons to work directly with the inmates, who are now the Mindful Leaders. Thus the seed\u00a0was planted.<\/p>\n

Madam Mary shares:<\/p>\n

“To me it was a wonderful experience \u2013 very, very wonderful experience in the way of just creating a lot of self-awareness in myself and how it comes out to touch other people … when you are with Inma it was like we were looking at ourselves as leaders, as people out for change. But change come from the inside, and the way you look at it \u2026 the way you share with other people, it just automatically makes them feel: \u2018Yes, this something nice, this something very interesting.\u2019 And that\u2019s how we came into contact with it and we are proceeding”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She has witnessed the change that has happened within the prisons that\u00a0offer the Mindful programme. She shares:<\/p>\n

\u2026 there\u2019s a lot of difference in the sense that where the programme is running, there\u2019s … harmony and understanding and, you\u00a0 know, there\u2019s a lot of collaboration between the members of staff and the inmates, which we really need”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She has recognised not only the inmates’ benefit from being present, alert, attentive and awake; it helps with the wellbeing of her staff too, so she\u00a0has adopted a weekly Mindful session together on a Tuesday at Headquarters, where her team pause,\u00a0look at themselves, reflect, and ground themselves.<\/p>\n

Madam\u00a0Khaemba\u00a0aspires\u00a0to have the Mindful programme in all prisons across Kenya \u2013\u00a0to lead the way, to show the world the difference\u00a0made by\u00a0adopting this Inner Rehabilitation programme (on many levels), to create harmony and peace\u00a0in the mind, between peers, in relationships between officers and inmates, and within families. She endeavours to incorporate Mindfulness within the Reception Board, so that ALL inmates upon their arrival in prison find their emotions and the openness to deal with what they are facing. Moreover,\u00a0within the Exit Board, so that\u00a0inmates leave in a headspace that feels prepared, resilient and ready to reintegrate, providing them with the tools to make conscious choices and not act on autopilot.<\/p>\n

A recurring theme within the prisons already involved in the project\u00a0is introducing Mindfulness to inmates on remand. Many have this practice in place already, but\u00a0we recognise the overarching benefit\u00a0of helping calm\u00a0the minds of those who are likely to leave earlier, in order to promote reintegration and a change of state of\u00a0mind \u2013 to be at one with their emotions and able to deal with them. It is hoped that this will then seep into the lives of their children and\u00a0families. The steps\u00a0with which\u00a0we can\u00a0reach these aspirations are being implemented. It is a very exciting time for the project; the momentum, drive and passion that it entails are\u00a0capturing great\u00a0interest and allowing for wonderful things to emerge.<\/p>\n

Headquarters is also home to Rose Tariki, who is a Senior Welfare Officer within Headquarters. Ros<\/p>\n

\"\"

Rose, her colleague Susan and welfare officers from Langata<\/p><\/div>\n

e is\u00a0 responsible for the co-ordination within the prisons. She worked directly with Emma and she is one of the reasons why the projects are moving along.<\/p>\n

Welfare Officers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mindful Welfare Officers are growing a community, keen to travel to each other\u2019s institutions and gain support, teaching and learning from inmates or other welfare officers there. This increases morale and ensures that the best, most effective knowledge, methods and innovations are shared for all individuals and prisons.<\/p>\n

As well as this they too have developed their use of the Handbook originally created by Dr Inma and her team \u2013 creating\u00a08 separate volumes for areas to develop emotions, the mind and the whole person. Co-ordinator Senior Welfare Officer Rose shares<\/p>\n

Now I thank Dr Inma because she opened up our minds and now we can see far. We can see what we were supposed to do for a future, not only for ourselves but for the generations to come.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"

Mindful Welfare Officers attending training with the Mindful Leader inmates at Naivasha Dec 2017<\/p><\/div>\n

In April 2018, for the very first time a 8-session Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Course was offered to 5 prison officers at Naivasha Maximum Security Prison, a course that was facilitated by Mindful Teacher Shanker Venkatasubramanian, who provided a safe, supportive place and many Mindful Practices and tools for the Welfare Officers to benefit from, furthermore to implement into their personal lives as well as their professional. A lot of interest in this course has been had and it is hoped it can be offered to many more Prison Welfare Officers within Kenya and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kenya Prisons Service have been paramount in the partnership with the University of Exeter to become pioneers in the integration of the Mindful programme into Kenyan prisons since 2015. Madam Mary Khaemba, Director of Offender Correction and Rehabilitation, was one of the first people to visit the UK to attend training at Embercombe with Dr […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-sidebar-boxed-feature-img.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKenya Prisons Service HQ - Mindful Leaders in Kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/mindful-leaders-kenya\/kps-headquarters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kenya Prisons Service HQ - Mindful Leaders in Kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kenya Prisons Service have been paramount in the partnership with the University of Exeter to become pioneers in the integration of the Mindful programme into Kenyan prisons since 2015. 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