Conditions for women in Kenya's jails are inhuman and intolerable a report by local human rights activists has concluded.

The report by the Kenya Human Rights Commission accused the government of lacking political will to improve the conditions.

In a stinging indictment of Kenya's jails and detention centres, the report said that conditions for women inmates were in contravention of internationally accepted human rights standards.

Overcrowding

It said that overcrowding was rife, with cells often holding more than three times their capacity.

Sanitation was deplorable, medical care was lacking and pregnant women had been forced to give birth in their cells in filthy conditions without the help of a midwive.

The report also said that the most common form of punishment was severe beating and it quoted former inmates who reported having been sexually abused by prison warders.

The commission said legal provisions setting certain standards, for instance on the care of women giving birth in prison, were not put into practice.

Community service

The report called on the government to implement effectively a law passed in 1998 which allows petty criminals to do community service instead of serving a jail term.

It noted that almost all the women interviewed were petty hawkers, commercial sex workers or had been arrested for brewing illegal alcohol.

The report said it remained immensely difficult for national and international bodies to gain access to prisons in order to monitor the institutions and check whether prisoners' rights were being respected.