Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
NAIROBI–As Suaad Hagi Mohamud recovers in Toronto from a nagging illness that developed after her eight-day stay in a Kenyan prison, former inmates of the ward where she stayed know her symptoms well.
"We were sleeping on the bare floor," said Agnes Gathoni Wahome, who spent a year and a half on the remand ward at Langata Women's Prison awaiting trial for marijuana possession. "We were given one old blanket each. Eventually I got a very bad chest infection."
Those familiar with the prison system say some sort of illness after discharge is to be expected.
"It is almost a given that, after they leave prison, they will be sick," said a human rights worker, who asked not to be identified for fear that her access to prisoners would be cut off. "Respiratory infection is automatic. Skin disease is automatic. These days tuberculosis is common."
Conditions on the ward are dank and crowded. At any one time, 300 or more women await trial in Langata prison. They sleep 60 to a room and share a single bucket for a toilet. Women with very small babies are given mats. Aside from ventilation slots high above eye level, there are no windows.
"The conditions in Kenyan prisons are usually below most expectations in terms of places of confinement and definitely a drastic departure from conditions in Canada," said Hassan Omar Hassan of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
"There are skin conditions for prisoners, there is pneumonia and tuberculosis and that is symbolic of the lack of access to health care, nutrition, and poor sleeping conditions."
Officials at Langata prison did not return calls for comment.
In Kenya, prisoners are easily forgotten.
Set at the end of a winding dirt road lined with cypress trees on a hillside in a Nairobi suburb, Langata Women's Prison is a 90-minute drive from the centre of town. For families without cars or spare money for travel, it is not where they expect to find a missing wife, sister or daughter.
"Remand is the last place you think of looking for her," said the human rights worker. "People look in the hospital first. Then they check the morgue."
It was during a strip search at the prison that Mohamud befriended Joyce Mutunda Masika by lending her a scarf to cover up with. While Mohamud's friends were able to visit her and bail her out after eight days, Masika's experience was more typical of Kenyan remand inmates, who often spend months in prison awaiting trial for petty charges. Some even spend years.
"I learned a lot," Masika said. "Besides learning from the guys inside there and the hurting, I learned that I didn't have friends because nobody came to see me for six weeks."
A rash still circled Masika's neck two weeks after charges against her were dropped and she left Langata. When she opens her mouth to laugh, there is a hole where she lost a tooth biting into a stone in the prison food.
Welfare workers say Mohamud was lucky to have been sent to Langata prison, which is famous for its annual beauty pageants, its Joy 'N Hope Beauty Salon, with a clientele from outside the prison, and its relatively sympathetic staff.
"Langata Women's Prison is the showpiece of Kenyan prisons," said a welfare practitioner who is familiar with the nation's penal system. "You cannot compare it to any other prison in Kenya."
None of this seems to ease the anxiety felt by prisoners awaiting trial as days and months slip by and case files plod slowly through Kenya's congested courts. Their condition is temporary and lacks even the comforts, like beds and better food, afforded many convicted inmates.
Masika cannot forget.
"I've been going once a week to see the ones who can't be bailed out. I want to see what I can do for them – if I can give them milk and bread, maybe I can keep them alive."
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: TheStar.com
Author: Zoe Alsop
Copyright: 2009 Toronto Star
Contact: Untitled Page
Website: TheStar.com | World | Surviving Kenyan prison ordeal
"We were sleeping on the bare floor," said Agnes Gathoni Wahome, who spent a year and a half on the remand ward at Langata Women's Prison awaiting trial for marijuana possession. "We were given one old blanket each. Eventually I got a very bad chest infection."
Those familiar with the prison system say some sort of illness after discharge is to be expected.
"It is almost a given that, after they leave prison, they will be sick," said a human rights worker, who asked not to be identified for fear that her access to prisoners would be cut off. "Respiratory infection is automatic. Skin disease is automatic. These days tuberculosis is common."
Conditions on the ward are dank and crowded. At any one time, 300 or more women await trial in Langata prison. They sleep 60 to a room and share a single bucket for a toilet. Women with very small babies are given mats. Aside from ventilation slots high above eye level, there are no windows.
"The conditions in Kenyan prisons are usually below most expectations in terms of places of confinement and definitely a drastic departure from conditions in Canada," said Hassan Omar Hassan of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
"There are skin conditions for prisoners, there is pneumonia and tuberculosis and that is symbolic of the lack of access to health care, nutrition, and poor sleeping conditions."
Officials at Langata prison did not return calls for comment.
In Kenya, prisoners are easily forgotten.
Set at the end of a winding dirt road lined with cypress trees on a hillside in a Nairobi suburb, Langata Women's Prison is a 90-minute drive from the centre of town. For families without cars or spare money for travel, it is not where they expect to find a missing wife, sister or daughter.
"Remand is the last place you think of looking for her," said the human rights worker. "People look in the hospital first. Then they check the morgue."
It was during a strip search at the prison that Mohamud befriended Joyce Mutunda Masika by lending her a scarf to cover up with. While Mohamud's friends were able to visit her and bail her out after eight days, Masika's experience was more typical of Kenyan remand inmates, who often spend months in prison awaiting trial for petty charges. Some even spend years.
"I learned a lot," Masika said. "Besides learning from the guys inside there and the hurting, I learned that I didn't have friends because nobody came to see me for six weeks."
A rash still circled Masika's neck two weeks after charges against her were dropped and she left Langata. When she opens her mouth to laugh, there is a hole where she lost a tooth biting into a stone in the prison food.
Welfare workers say Mohamud was lucky to have been sent to Langata prison, which is famous for its annual beauty pageants, its Joy 'N Hope Beauty Salon, with a clientele from outside the prison, and its relatively sympathetic staff.
"Langata Women's Prison is the showpiece of Kenyan prisons," said a welfare practitioner who is familiar with the nation's penal system. "You cannot compare it to any other prison in Kenya."
None of this seems to ease the anxiety felt by prisoners awaiting trial as days and months slip by and case files plod slowly through Kenya's congested courts. Their condition is temporary and lacks even the comforts, like beds and better food, afforded many convicted inmates.
Masika cannot forget.
"I've been going once a week to see the ones who can't be bailed out. I want to see what I can do for them – if I can give them milk and bread, maybe I can keep them alive."
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: TheStar.com
Author: Zoe Alsop
Copyright: 2009 Toronto Star
Contact: Untitled Page
Website: TheStar.com | World | Surviving Kenyan prison ordeal
