For more than four decades, James Weru was a resident of Kamiti, arguably Kenya’s harshest prison. This was the place he called home from when he was in his early 30s.
Weru was a cleaner at the defunct Nairobi City Council of Nairobi, a job he had held for nine years, when calamity struck. While at home in 1974 at Kamatu, Nyeri, together with some friends, he got into a heated argument about the impending elections that escalated into a fistfight. Weru claims that during the ensuing scuffle, a colleague stole his money.
Seething with fury, he chased down one of the men and hacked him to death. He was later arrested by villagers and handed over to the police. What followed was a lengthy judicial process that left him waiting for death for close to half a century at Kamiti Maximum Prison.
After being remanded in several prisons across the country, in 1983, the trial judge imprisoned Weru indefinitely on a Presidential Pleasure sentence because it was deemed that the man was not in his right frame of mind when he committed the offence. By the time he limped out of prison in 2015 following a Jamhuri Day presidential pardon, the now 72-year-old man had spent 41 years in prison. Not surprisingly, the world he walked into was alien and he made headlines for demanding to be taken back home - to prison.
David Parseen has been at Kamiti Maximum Prison for the past 10 years and is serving a life sentence for the assault and murder of a prominent Mombasa businessman. Now a trustee, which is a lofty position for an inmate, Parseen says he made prison ‘home’ and became a writer once he accepted that it was where he was destined to be. “I have left the past behind and decided to wait on God. This is my home now and I have adapted to the rules of prison and this has made life easier for me. I chose not to let bitterness get the best of me,” said Parseen, adding that, “Prison is one of the coolest places because there is no tribalism, all of us are brothers and we are united by a common factor. Remember that a positive attitude changes the whole situation.”
He confesses that they take solace in reading the Bible as it helps them to calm their minds and give them hope for the best because serving a life sentence requires one to be strong, since the future is unpredictable.“The government takes good care of us by providing us with basic needs. For instance now, when it’s very cold, we are fed well and supplied with enough blankets. People like us serving life sentences don’t know any other home; this is where we pursue our dreams to better our lives. The more we stay here, the more God preserves us,” he says.
Parseen likens prison life to living with a deadly ailment, which requires self acceptance for one to live longer. “Denial is a big problem, but when you accept your fate, life becomes easy and you are able to focus on your life. This is where I belong because I committed that crime and if God chooses that I die here, then let His will be done,” says Parseen.
He explains why he and fellow inmates have accepted that prison is their home and why most of them don’t want to be released. “Their properties were sold by their relatives without their knowledge. For others, their spouses re-married. These crashed their hopes and that’s why they have decided to stay in prison,” he says. For James Mong’are, escaping the hangman’s noose was a second chance that made him feel grateful for the gift of life and see prison as home.
“Life took a new turn after capital punishment was abolished and I felt like I was born again. Before that, death beckoned with each passing second. Those days, we never saw light because we were kept in a small room to await death,” he says.
Mong’are says he feels so liberated now that he can play soccer in prison, go to class, pursue his music career and attend seminars. “I survived death. What more can I ask for but to accept my situation? I eat good food - we have meat three times a week - and I am pursuing my education and I receive counselling and medication.
“Of course there are other factors that can make you lose hope and see no reason for getting your freedom back. Sometimes you lose your family while you are in prison or you suffer depression. Then you feel there is no need to get out of prison. But the interesting thing is that you develop a cordial relationship with other prisoners and they become your family, so the thought of going out there and facing the stigma becomes a nightmare,” says Mong’are, who has spent 20 years in prison.
He commends the government for improving life in prison and making it possible to be reunited with his wife after 18 years. To the ladies, he says, the best husband they can ever have is a man who has been in prison. “Look at my case. I could not have learnt how to make shoes, but now I’m in the land of opportunities. I make small money through my music and that supports my family.
“I have added weight. When I came to prison, I was malnourished. We eat boiled foods, which is healthy and there is no alcohol. That’s why we look younger,” he says with a chuckle.
Simon Lokwacheria, one of the longest serving inmates at Kamiti Prison says he was illiterate when he was sentenced to death for robbery with violence, but today, he is well read, and this is the reason he prefers prison life as he waits on God. “This is my home and I have to keep pursuing my goals. In prison, I’m equipped with the necessary tools to make my dreams come true. For starters, I can’t go hungry. It’s the government’s responsibility to make sure that my belly is full. I have never slept hungry,” says Lokwacheria, adding that all he is required to do is to be disciplined and be at the right place at the right time.
He says he is not only well-groomed and happy, but that if he becomes ill, there are ambulances are outside ready to rush him to hospital and the bill will be paid by the government. “One feels that there is no need of getting your freedom back because the people who understand you better are in this place. Here, we don’t judge, we accept that we are all sinners, no hypocrisy,” he says.
Lokwacheria says this has a lot to do with the prison reforms initiated by former veep ‘Uncle’ Moody Awori, when he was the minister for Home Affairs. “The prison warders treat us like brothers; we crack jokes and this helps us to feel loved. If we lack anything, they are always there for us and most of the time, they accompany us to the hospital when we fall sick. That is what we call the spirit of brotherhood. We have our meals on time and sleep early, no wonder people say we are healthy whenever they pay us a visit,” he says.