Former senior assistant commissioner of prisons Wanini Kireri ( Photo Courtesy)
The year was 1982 when a youthful Wanini Kireri had just been enlisted into the Kenya prisons service as a cadet officer. This became the genesis of her journey in the Kenya Prisons. Her first posting was at Lang’ata Women Prisons as a duty officer. But she was unprepared for what she saw in prison.
In 1986 she was promoted and transferred to Embu Women Prisons as the officer in charge. She saw this as an opportunity to improve the lives of both inmates and the staff at the Embu Women Prisons. She started by ensuring that high levels of hygiene were upheld within the accommodation areas. Then, she got new uniforms for inmates and staff under her command, which boosted their morale.
In 1993 she got promoted to the rank of Superintendent of Prisons and then transferred to the Prisons College as a Senior Lecturer.
In 2006 she was transferred to Shimo La Tewa Maximum Prisons, a male-only prisoners institution, as the first-ever female officer in charge of the prison.
In 2017 she moved from the Nairobi Region to Prisons Headquarters as the Director, Legal Section. To nurture talents and invoke creativity among the inmates, she introduced dancing and drama competitions leading to some inmates becoming professional entertainers upon leaving the prisons.
In 2018, she was posted to Ruiru as the Kenya Prisons Staff Training College as the Commandant. By so doing, she became the first woman ever to hold the position.
But in 2022 May, Wanini Kireri died after a short illness with the then President Uhuru Kenyatta leading the nation in mourning the trailblazer who had set the bar very high for female security officers in the country.
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