Life Behind Bars: A story of Redemption

As prison doors opened to the outside world, Joseph Mburu, an inmate at the Nairobi Remand and Allocation Prison, sat all alone on a bench. He stared at the gate looking at everyone who entered the prison keenly.

Mburu was eagerly awaiting the arrival of his family members who were to visit him on this special occasion in prison.

“I am hoping to see my family but mostly my little princess.

The thought of her has kept me going to this day and seeing her will give me the strength I need through my case,” says Mburu, his eyes still focused on the entrance.

Inside the prison, the inmates were excited as they hoped their dear ones to pay them a visit on this special day.

Outside the premises, security check is in progress. Visitors are being frisked to ensure nothing unwanted gets in. The queues are long but patience is written on everyone’s face.

“I came here at around 7.30 am because I wanted to be among the first so that I can spend more time with my brother. I come to see him often, but today’s visiting is different,” says Kinyua.

On a normal visiting day, the inmate is handcuffed and is in a separate room with the visitor. There is a glass window with wire mesh where the prisoner and his visitor converse.

“Today, unlike the other visiting days, I will get to hug, sit, eat, laugh and spend time with my brother. I will also get to see his second home because I have never been inside a prison,” says Kinyua, whose brother has been in the prison for six years.

Kinyua, like many other visitors, is waiting for the go ahead to meet their loved ones. Inside the prison, the inmates and the officers are all seated, but the mood jovial.one could hear gospel music playing at the background.

After a long wait the families were allowed inside the premises and from a distance one could notice the inmates peeping just to make sure they have located a relative.

The saying so close but so far away was so vivid at this moment when the inmate were told to wait for a while before joining their families. Everyone was looking in the opposite direction just to catch a glance of a loved one.

“I cannot see anyone but I am hopeful someone came to see me. My people were traveling from Mombasa so they might be resting because of the long hours on the road,” Said Sadik, a robbery with violence suspect who has been in for two years, says.

The event kick started with a word of prayer and immediately afterwards the entertainment followed suit.

Prison reforms have really changed this place from a mere, “facility for locking criminals” to the place it is today.

It was a fun filled day, with face painting by an inmate and bouncing castle for the young ones to entertain themselves as the grownups did some catching up.

A few dancing  and acrobat groups performed before the guest, apparently all were inmates from Kamiti Maximum Prison and Nairobi Remand and Allocation whom one would have easily mistaken for popular dance groups like Wapi Wapi or even FBI dancers.

With the prison reforms that were introduced by the Narc government in 2002, the Prison Department has experienced a tremendous make-over.

In the past when inmates were brought to the facility, the first assumption was these are criminal, forgetting that everyone is innocent until proven guilty in the court of law and now that that was made clear the relationships between inmates and the officers have changed to the better.

Prison officers led by the Prison Nairobi county commander, Wanini Kireri joined the inmates and their families to a dance. They danced to the rhythm of different type of songs and at some point, they stopped to shake hands and hug.