Three petitioners, John Wangai, Peter Agoro, and Antony Murimi, have moved to court suing the Kenya Prison Service and the Attorney General for failing to approve conjugal rights for prisoners.
The petitioners argued that there is no legal justification for the denial of conjugal rights to prisoners, breaching provisions of Article 45 of the Constitution that allow the right to family.
They told court that Prisoners in Kenya have the constitutional right to conjugal rights in accordance with the Constitution, which guarantees the right to family, as well as the right to dignity and equality under Articles 28 and 27 of the Constitution respectively, but the same has perpetually and ceaselessly been violated, infringed, denied and threatened by the Prison Service and the failure of the Attorney General to advice the government accordingly.
It is the petitioners’ submission that the denial of conjugal rights to Kenya prisoners which is a fundamental aspect of the right to family life, is a violation of the Constitution of Kenya, international human rights law, and customary law that acknowledges the importance of conjugal rights in family life.
They say that the illegal denial of conjugal rights to prisoners has led to severe emotional and psychological consequences on both the prisoners and their family members.
They ask Court to find that the Kenya Prison Service and the Attorney General have violated, infringed, denied and threatened Article 45 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 on the right to family by not facilitating conjugal visitation rights to inmates.
Further, they ask Court to issue an order mandamus compelling the Government to allocate resources and develop appropriate facilities in all prisons to accommodate and facilitate conjugal visitation in a dignified and secure manner.
