The Role of the Church in Reintegration of Ex-Prisoners

The church is ordained by God to preach the Good news to the needy and to heal the broken hearted and proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. The church is called of God to provide hope to those who are hopeless and to transform the lives of those who are crooked to come to the light of Jesus Christ. Therefore it goes without saying that the church has a great stake in the rehabilitation of prisoners and in the reintegration of the same back to the community. Kenya prisons have engaged fully in rehabilitation of prisoners by providing them with skills that would help them when they get out of prisons to earn a living. However this has not helped the prisoners who are exiting out of prisons to reintegrate successfully with the community which in one way or the other they offended. There are a lot of incidences reported where ex-prisoners are lynched by the public upon stepping out of prisons and others are brought back to the prisons either because of committing crime or on mere suspicion from the fact that they just came from prison. The study assessed the role of the church in reintegration of prisoners back to the community.