Eldoret: A Prisoner Dies in Custody
The 28 years old Oliver Ochieng Juma died at the hands of the warden’s death at the Eldoret GK prison.
The deceased was remanded for 14 months after he was accused of robbery with violence.
Caleb Oyaro, father to the deceased said his son’s death was not natural.
and that the prison wardens told him that Oliver killed himself by banging his body against the wall.
“My son was killed. We have seen defense marks on his arms and his body has scratches all over in the postmortem report. The report showed that the deceased died due to lack of oxygen and blood circulation ”Said Oyaro while addressing the media.
According to Monica Wanjiru now a widow, Oliver called her on the 29th while in Court and told her that he was going to be released on the 12th June 2023 due to lack of witnesses.
“He told me that he was threatened to be killed by a prison warden. Oliver has been complaining of beatings within the prison. He told me that he had been put in remand where he was sleeping on the flow while being tortured by prison wardens ” she said.
Human Right Activists led by Haki Africa Director Hussein Khalid want a thorough investigation against the officers involved to be implicated and transferred.
” We’ve received several information from prisoners and the family and have named some officers, we are more concerned about the lives of other prisoners,” Khalid said.
The activists urged the Interior Cabinet Secretary to do more to improve the prisons.
“These are not dungeons where people are not supposed to be tortured but correctional institutes that are meant to correct citizens so that they can reform and get back to the community,” added Khalid
Khalid urged the government to give IPOA a mandate to expand their services to the KWS, prisons, and the County Governments Askaris where human rights are being violated daily.
Kimtai Kirui Eldoret-based activist appealed to the government through the Interior CS Kithure Kindiki to put proper measures in training Prison wardens and also to install CCTV Cameras in police stations and prisons to allow people to know what happened.
“It’s unfortunate for a prisoner to die in the hands of prison wardens. The government should ensure County Askaris and prison wardens undergo paramilitary training to ensure proper handling of remandees and the convicted in the correctional institutions,” added the Human Rights Activist.
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