What used to happen during an execution at Kamiti Maximum Prison

It has revealed that most prisoners dreaded being hanged.On the other hand, the hangman was not easily identified to the prison warders.

Ndung’u Kirugumi the son of a former prison warder said that there was a number of prison warders whose duty was to ensure that during the D -day everything was in order before the hangman took over.

 According to Kirugumi, the hangman arrived one day before the condemned inmates faced him.He further said immediately the executioner arrived, the sirens at Kamiti would be turned on to notify the prison warders at the gate about his arrival so that they could not subject him to security checks.

 In an effort to conceal his identity everyone at the prison even the warders was required to turn their backs when he was passing. Even the long-serving prison warders retired even before setting their eyes on him.

Immediately after passing through the gate, the hangman drove straight to the specific room where the execution was supposed to be carried out.

He thoroughly inspected the gallow, the noose, the frame with its crosspieces, the trapdoor and then the black hood that prisoner had to wear over his head.

He also checked the strength of the hangman noose in comparison to the body weight of the convicted inmate. All this was done in a bid to ensure that the noose could support the weight of the inmate.

When the hour of the inmate to be hanged drew near the prisoner was prayed for by the priest and then he was locked up in a cell for 24 hours before being hanged.

When the very hour came the inmate’s hands were tied tightly behind his back and a hood (a black head covering) placed over his head.

Once the door of the gallow was slammed shut it was the end of the prisoner.The hangman placed the noose on the neck of the inmate and pulled the lever that pulled the trapdoor open. The prisoner was executed.

After confirming the death the hangman lowered the lifeless body from the contraption and left. The prison authorities then took over by ensuring that the corpse was buried in the prison’s mass grave.