The heroines of Kamiti Medium Security Prison

Meet the women who work behind the scenes at Kamiti Medium Security Prison, serving wholeheartedly and making a significant contribution towards prison reforms, writes NJOKI CHEGE

For a long time, all we heard about the Kenyan prisons was the deplorable and inhumane conditions that rang alarms for many human rights watchers.

Nobody ever talked about the people who took care of the inmates, particularly the women taking care of the male prisoners. But these women are wives, mothers, sisters, mentors and career women, who are eking a living out of guarding inmates in one of the country’s largest male prisons.

They are tasked with the tough job of pushing forward the reform agenda in the Kamiti Medium Security Prison that has a population of between 700 and 1,500 male inmates. Eve Woman spent a day with three of them.

Sergeant

Sergeant Ruth Muli

At 53, she has been in the prisons service for the past 33 years. Currently, she is the deputy in charge of the boys’ hostels at the Kamiti Secondary School. The school is situated within the prisons ground and is open to the public. Ruth is in charge of ensuring cleanliness in the hostels and ensuring their effective and smooth running. She first joined the prisons service in 1977 when she was only 18 years old.

"I fell in love with the job when I was a child. On a trip to the show in Kitui, I saw the prisons band and decided I would be one of them when I grew up," Ruth says.

She started her career as a wardress at Machakos Women Prisons and joined the prisons band six months later.

Challenging task

"Six months into the service, I was called back to the college to learn music. I did well in the band and rose to the rank of a drum major," she says beaming.

Ruth stayed in the band for 18 years. In 1988, she was promoted to the rank of corporal and in 1991, to a sergeant. She was also transferred from the Prisons Training College to the Lang’ata Women’s Prison in 1998.

Ruth joined Kamiti Medium Prisons in 1999. Indeed, 33 years is a long time to be in the prisons service, but it is also challenging as Ruth admits.

"It requires you to have wisdom to handle different inmates with their different personalities without losing your cool," Ruth says.

A widow and a mother of five, Ruth has learnt to be content with whatever she does for a living, even with all the challenges.

"I have learnt to be resilient in the face of all the challenges and work without complaining. Besides, I love my job and my emphasis is respect of human rights," says she.

Corporal Mary Muthoni

The 41-year-old is currently in charge of the talents team at Kamiti Medium Security Prison. The talents team was introduced at the prison last year in a bid to tap into the immense talent among the inmates.

Those talented in music and dance were encouraged to form the team, which now comprises dancers, actors, comedians, singers and acrobats. The whole team now consists of 45 members. Mary’s job involves coordinating the activities of the team. A gifted singer herself, Mary was elated to take up the new challenge.

"I joined the prisons choir 24 years ago when I was still in primary school," she says.

Mary joined the prisons service in 1990 and her first posting was in Lang’ata Women’s Prisons, Nairobi, where she worked for six years before moving to Kamiti Medium Security Prison in 1996, where she has stayed up to date. In 2001, she was promoted from a wardress to a corporal.

Mary served at the Kamiti Medium Boys Hostel until she was appointed by the current officer in charge of the prison to head the talents team last year.

"We realised that the inmates had immense talent in music, drama and acrobatics and, therefore, it was important that we tap this and put it into good use," she says.

Mary and her team are already reaping fruits of this venture. The prisons dance group — Sakata Dance Group is the current champion of a dance competition for all prisons within Nairobi County held in February.

"We practise every single day for an hour. I am proud of the group’s dedication and commitment towards improving their talent and doing something worthwhile as they serve their time," says Mary.

Commitment

The dance group, choir, drama and acrobatics’ teams are looking forward to performing in state functions in future. But one of the challenges, Mary says, is in the fact that she is dealing with male inmates, some of whom are very distressed about their current situation.

"It’s tough dealing with such kind of men, but I have learnt to treat them as my sons –– with the care, respect and understanding of a mother," she reveals.

As a wife and mother of two, Mary admits that it is a tough call to balance a demanding career and family. But what keeps her going?

"I really love my job. Ever since I was a young girl, I always desired to be a uniformed officer. I am even happier now that I am helping inmates discover their talents," she says.

Corporal Rukia Wakesho

At 49, she is in charge of floriculture and nurseries, a section in the larger prison farm.

An agriculturalist, Rukia finds pleasure in impacting farming skills to the inmates.

"I basically teach them skills on propagation of flowers, landscaping and grafting different variations of seedlings, as well as bee-keeping. I am also in charge of the flower nurseries," Rukia says.

At the moment, she is training ten prisoners, all of whom are very receptive towards the initiative.

The venture has proved to be effective as several former inmates, who learnt from Rukia, are running their own similar projects after serving their time.

"The inmates are interested in floriculture and horticulture. This is especially so because they are learning how to use cheap and locally available materials in the two fields," says Rukia.

Horticultural training

Rukia first joined the prisons service in 1980 as a recruit wardress. Her first posting was at the Prison Staff Training College in Ruiru, where she was involved in normal clerical duties. In 1986, while at Lang’ata Women’s Prisons, she applied for a horticultural training at Thika Institute of Agriculture for a certificate in horticulture.

She was attached to the horticulture section of the Lang’ata Women’s Prison until 1992 when she was transferred to the prisons headquarters before being posted to Kamiti Medium Security Prison in 2007. Rukia’s greatest challenge is in dealing with male inmates — some of whom are hardcore criminals.

Psychology

"I deal with all sorts of inmates. But you are expected to study an inmate and master their psychology. Some are disturbed because they have been wrongly accused and are finding it hard to accept their situation," says Rukia.

She says that she enjoys her job because she believes she is living her passion.

"My job is in me and it becomes better since I receive a lot of encouragement from my boss," Rukia says.