Thika Resident Magistrate, Esther Mburu on Friday appealed to well-wishers to support jailed children with heavy clothings and beddings.
Speaking at St. Martin’s boardroom in Thika town during the local Court Users Committee meeting, Mburu said that some of the children are placed in penal institutions not because they were criminals, but due to lack of anyone to take care of them.
“They are our children and we need to be vigilant on them no matter what made them to be in prison. They need basic care, dressing, beddings and our love,” said Mburu.
She stressed some children were in prison because they were abandoned by their relatives when their parents died.
“The other day I had a teenager who was abandoned by her relatives after her parents died and she had nobody to call a family member,” the magistrate said.
She asked the prison officers to assist adult prisoners with telephone so they may request for clothes and other necessities from their relatives.
“Inmates are not animals to be beaten, I advise our prison officers to treat this people with dignity as well as allowing them call their guardians for certain assistance like issuance of blankets and clothing’s,” she added.