Court is right; jailing mothers with children is wrong

Chief Administrative Secretary Interior Ministry Winnie Guchu when she officially opened a daycare center at the Lang'ata Women's Prison.[Muriithi Mugo,Standard]

I served a prison sentence with my three-month-old daughter in my arms. I know, intimately and painfully, what it means for a child to take their first breaths behind cold prison walls. I know the sound of keys clanking where lullabies should be, the weight of shame layered on top of fear, and the quiet breaking of dignity that incarceration inflicts not just on the convicted, but on the innocent child beside them.

The recent landmark ruling by High Court judge Rueben Nyakundi, affirming that probation, not imprisonment, should be prioritised for mothers with young children, is therefore not just progressive jurisprudence. It is moral clarity long overdue.