How many people are imprisoned in Kenya?

Kenya's prison population is 60,740 people. This figure aggregates all forms of detention counted by the source: sentenced prisoners, pre-trial detainees, and administrative detentions.

What is the incarceration rate in Kenya?

Kenya's incarceration rate is approximately 101 people per 100,000 population.

How many prisons are there in Kenya?

World Prisons indexes 60 individual facilities in Kenya. Each entry links to a detail page with contact information, capacity, oversight reports, and known conditions.

Does Kenya have the death penalty?

Kenya's death-penalty status is: abolitionist-in-practice. Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

All countries

Africa · Eastern Africa

Kenya

High confidence

Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 1 Jan 2025

Aging · 3mo ago

Substantial overcrowding; Independent Police Oversight Authority and the National Council on Administration of Justice publish periodic reviews.

Compare Kenya World Prison Brief page

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

Prison population

60,740

Year: 2025

Rate per 100,000

101

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

176.5%

Severely overcrowded

Pre-trial / remand

40.3%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

4.8%

Foreign nationals

1.5%

Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology

Conditions risk — across 60 facilities

Average of our computed Conditions Risk Score across the country's facilities. Methodology · Browse highest-risk

—

national average

60 unknown

abolitionist in practice on capital punishment. Last known execution: 1987.Methods: hangingICCPR-OP2 (death-penalty abolition protocol): not a signatory

Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

Source: Amnesty International + Cornell Death Penalty Worldwide.

3 documented human-rights cases →

How Kenya compares

vs Africa (8) & global averages

Rate per 100,000this: 101 · region: 209 · global: 214

Occupancy ratethis: 177% · region: 157% · global: 125%

Pre-trial sharethis: 40% · region: 34% · global: 32%

The vertical ticks mark the global (grey) and regional (amber) means. Bars are clipped at the high end for readability.

Prison population over time

Annual figures, latest survey year

2000: 40,010+47.2% over 22y2022: 58,887

Source: World Prison Brief / unodc

Reform in Kenya

All reform →

Laws, programmes, and pilots changing how Kenya incarcerates — plus relevant research.

Decriminalisation of petty offences2017–ongoing
decarceration · active
Kenya's High Court struck down 'rogue and vagabond' offences in 2019, which had been used to detain and prosecute people for being poor, unemployed, or out at night. Reform was driven by Kituo cha Sheria and Africa Criminal Justice Reform.

Prisons in Kenya

Browse all 60 →

60 facilities in our database — showing the first 24.

Eldoret GK Prison

Kenya

medium

Type

prison

Capacity

—

Held

—

Eldoret Prisons

Kenya

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Embu GK Prison

Kenya

medium

Type

prison

Capacity

—

Held

—

Kenya

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

G. K. Prison

Kenya

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

GK Prison Kitale

Kenya · Kitale

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

GoK Industrial Area Remand Prison

Kenya · Nairobi

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Kenya

maximum

Type

prison

Capacity

1,400

Held

3,600

Overcrowded (257%)

Kamiti Youth Corrective Training Centre

Kenya

low

Type

youth

Capacity

—

Held

—

Kapenguria GK Prison

Kenya

medium

Type

prison

Capacity

—

Held

—

kenya prison isiolo

Kenya

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Kibos Prison

Kenya

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

KILIFI PRISON

Kenya

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

King`ong`o Prison

Kenya · King'ong'o

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Kisii GK Prison

Kenya

medium

Type

prison

Capacity

—

Held

—

See all 60 prisons in Kenya →

Data completeness

100%

Score based on how many fields are populated. We surface this so you know where the gaps are.

National population: 59,980,0002025
Source-verified: 20 May 2026
Source links: 1 cited

Sources

Direct citations for the figures on this page.

Primary reference
World Prison Brief (ICPS, Birkbeck) — Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research
See /data-sources for our methodology.

ISO 3166-1 alpha-3: KEN

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA

World Prisons. (2026). Kenya — prison statistics. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/countries/kenya

Chicago

"Kenya — prison statistics." World Prisons. Accessed August 30, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/countries/kenya.

BibTeX

@misc{worldprisons-kenya,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Kenya — prison statistics},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/countries/kenya},
  urldate = {2026-08-30}
}