Senators have raised the alarm over a worrying trend of unexplained deaths of detainees and prisoners in custody across the country.
The lawmakers want the National Police Service (NPS) and the Kenya Prison Service (KPS) to come clean on the number of all arrested persons and inmates who have died while in custody.
The outcry follows the death of one Sylvester Mwangoji, popularly known as Mwangoji Wameliza, while in custody at Weruga Police Post in Wundanyi Sub-County, Taita Taveta County last month following his arrest by police.
The Senate in session.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
Taita Taveta Senator Johnes Mwaruma said the disturbing incident is not an isolated case and points to a worrying trend that raises critical questions about safety, treatment and the rights of arrested persons under the custody of the state.
“It is deeply troubling that such deaths occur without prompt accountability, thorough investigations or adequate reporting mechanisms,” said Mr Mwaruma.
The Senate committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations has now been tasked to open investigations into the matter.
The committee chaired by Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo will now inquire into deaths of inmates directly linked to actions or negligence by police officers, prison wardens or other law enforcement personnel and the disciplinary, administrative or legal actions taken against officers found culpable.
They will also shed light on mechanisms in place for handling of bodies of persons who die while in police custody, including whether an autopsy is conducted in the presence of families of the deceased persons and the modalities of releasing bodies for burial.
The committee will also report on the adequacy of the legal and institutional mechanisms that currently exist to safeguard the rights and welfare of arrested and detained persons in detention facilities.
This is in addition to finding out what independent bodies mandated to investigate the deaths are doing and whether the findings of such investigations are made public.
“We want to know whether the National Police Service and the Kenya Prison Service maintain an updated and publicly accessible register of all arrested persons and inmates who have died while in custody,” said Mr Mwaruma.
“And if so, provide a comprehensive list of these deaths from 2022 to date, including names, dates, places of death, causes of death and the status of investigations or inquiries conducted.”
Several reports have revealed a grim picture of conditions in the prisons with torture and ill-treatment being used indiscriminately in Kenyan prisons to instill discipline.
Prisoners are reportedly beaten if they do not obey the orders of prison officers or breach prison rules.
In January this year, a police officer in Nakuru was on the spot after a defilement suspect died while in Bondeni Police Station under unclear circumstances.
Two months later, a prisoner at the Kibos Maximum Prison died while undergoing treatment after he was allegedly assaulted by prison warders for protesting against food rations.
In 2018, a former Ruaraka OCS Nahashon Mutua was found guilty of torturing a suspect to death in 2013.
Former Ruaraka Police Station OCS Nahashon Mutua in a Nairobi court where he denied killing a man in a cell.
Photo credit: Paul Waweru | Nation Media Group
He was charged with the murder of Martin Koome, a suspect who had been arrested over a domestic brawl.
In 2019, two warders attached to the Naivasha GK Prison were interdicted over the mysterious death of an inmate in the prison who a report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights showed he was tortured to death.
However, in 2009, the country was shocked when six people were found beaten to death in a Kenyan police station.
Although the police said the prisoners died fighting among themselves, human rights groups claimed that it is the police who were responsible for the killings.
