Prison staff get pay rise in new grading system

All cadres of prison staff are set to receive the fourth phase of their ongoing salaries and allowances increment, Commissioner General of Prisons Wycliffe Ogalo announced on Tuesday.

Mr Ogalo said the amount will form part of all uniformed officers’ December salaries and will be backdated to July 1.

The commissioner general, however, did not disclose the increment percentages.

The changes are part of a new grading system that was approved by the Public Service Commission in a move aimed at harmonising prison staff pay with that of the National Police Service.

To align the two salaries structures, the Kenya Prisons Service was forced to collapse two ranks – the senior assistant commissioner and senior deputy commissioner of prisons.

That saw 14 ranks retained out of the previous 16, with the rank of the commissioner general being the senior most.

New pay structure

Under the new pay structure, prison staff trainees will be starting off on a salary of Sh20,740. Sh38,980 will be the maximum amount that a constable will pocket before promotion to the next rank. The highest paid officer will earn Sh323,640 at job group 14 ,up from Sh212,270.

Mr Ogalo spoke while addressing senior staff at Magereza House, the prisons headquarters, during a thanksgiving service. He thanked the staff for their service throughout the challenging year that saw the department hit by Covid-19 , both at the prison headquarters and in various prisons.

Deputy Commissioner General of Prisons Florence Momanyi disclosed that at some point she and a few other staff house tested positive for Covid, forcing the headquarters to be closed for two weeks.