October 2026
What is Kenya's Sex Offender Treatment Programme?
SOTP is an eight-month rehabilitation programme for adult men convicted of sexual offences, delivered with the Kenya Prisons Service in 11 maximum security prisons.
The Sex Offender Treatment Programme, or SOTP, is Ustawi Network's flagship work with the Kenya Prisons Service. It is for adult men convicted of sexual offences. Punishment records the harm. This programme asks men to understand that harm, take responsibility, and prepare for a safer return to community life.
How long does it take?
A full cycle runs for eight months and 288 hours. Eleven modules cover norm building, responsibility for the offence, the Sexual Offences Act and consent, victim empathy, thinking that excuses harm, alcohol and drugs, personal risk, sexuality and boundaries, relationships, emotion management, and a plan to prevent further harm. More than 200 men have graduated. About 160 are in training across 11 maximum security prisons.
What is it trying to change?
The goal is practical. Participants should leave with a clearer sense of responsibility, more empathy for the people who were harmed, better control of strong emotions, and a plan for reintegration. Correctional officers also train as facilitators, so the work can continue inside the prison.
SOTP began as a 2024 pilot at Kamiti Medium Prison. It then launched at Kamiti Maximum and expanded to other maximum security sites, including Nakuru, Kibos, and Kisumu. It is rehabilitation with accountability, not a promise that a sentence did not matter.