ladyarkles
02-28-2005, 05:51 PM
Feb. 28
KENYA:
Death Row Prisoners' Appeal to Their Loved Ones
Sentenced to die for serious crimes, the stories of men and women on death row read like eerie tales. But they are real.
Immediately they are sentenced to death, life takes a turn for the worse.
Family members and friends desert them. No one comes visiting at the prison. One is left to walk to the sunset of his or her life in loneliness.
It is at "Condemned A" where those waiting to be executed spend their days at the Kamiti Maximum Prison. At Langata Women's Prison, those on death row languish at the cell named "Condemned".
At Kamiti, the inmates of "Condemned A" wake up to a life of routine boredom. They do not do manual work like other inmates. Once in this section, one does not need to work. There is no point in working if they are going to die anyway. The prisoners are not expected to return to society with skills to earn them a living either. So they eat and while away the time as they wait for their fate.
They are neither visited by their relatives and friends nor do they get information about what is happening in the outside world. Their cell is next to the execution chamber, a grim reminder of their proximity to death.
"Going to sleep everyday knowing that the execution chamber is next to you is torture enough," says one of the convicts.
The women inmates waiting for death at the Langata Women's Prison are not any different. Though looking slightly more relaxed, their worst torture, they say, is not knowing the fate of the children they left behind.
In maximum prisons, death hovers really close. But for these convicts, death comes even earlier, when they are abandoned by their families and friends.
"We are not yet dead, please do not bury us alive, come and visit," is the message from these men and women waiting for execution at an unspecified date.
According to the inmates, the main reason no one visits them is because they are believed to have been already executed.
Yet except for those who may have died of natural causes, most of the death row prisoners are alive.
The last legal execution took place in Kenya in 1987. It may seem that the Government has in principle stopped executions. Although the courts still mete out the penalty, in reality it is never executed.
If one is lucky, he or she is released on presidential clemency. For instance, in February 2003, President Kibaki released 28 prisoners on death row and commuted 195 others to life sentences.
The other reason why death row convicts are not visited is the nature of the crime they committed. Some may have killed a relative or done something that makes them a pariah, and are left to carry the guilt to the grave.
Currently, there are 102 death row inmates at Kamiti Maximum Prison, while Langata Women's Prison had 26. The number keeps rising depending on how many are convicted by the courts.
There have also been indications that the Government will do away with the death penalty. Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Kiraitu Murungi has said a number of times that the Government wants to repeal that law on grounds that it is barbaric and has no place in modern society.
Whether they are innocent of the crimes they have been convicted of remains debatable. What is certain is that their fate is sealed.
Many of the condemned inmates have appealed several times over their sentences without success. Others are still awaiting ruling on their appeals.
Regardless of the sentence, convicts long for visits from friends and relatives to give some consolation in life that there are people who care for them. But this is slow in coming.
"We try our best to trace relatives of inmates who have not been visited for a long time. We write letters to them to get them to visit the inmates, but sometimes, the crime committed may have driven a wedge between the inmates and their loved ones and it becomes hard to reconcile them," says Mr Charles Muraya, the officer commanding Kamiti Maximum Prison.
Years come and go and prisoners on death sentence keep staring through the bars hoping for a day their names will be called out announcing the arrival of a visitor - a relative or a friend. Hardly does that happen.
Eventually, anguish and uncertainty set in and bring to bear the full weight of the death sentence.
(source: The Nation)
KENYA:
Death Row Prisoners' Appeal to Their Loved Ones
Sentenced to die for serious crimes, the stories of men and women on death row read like eerie tales. But they are real.
Immediately they are sentenced to death, life takes a turn for the worse.
Family members and friends desert them. No one comes visiting at the prison. One is left to walk to the sunset of his or her life in loneliness.
It is at "Condemned A" where those waiting to be executed spend their days at the Kamiti Maximum Prison. At Langata Women's Prison, those on death row languish at the cell named "Condemned".
At Kamiti, the inmates of "Condemned A" wake up to a life of routine boredom. They do not do manual work like other inmates. Once in this section, one does not need to work. There is no point in working if they are going to die anyway. The prisoners are not expected to return to society with skills to earn them a living either. So they eat and while away the time as they wait for their fate.
They are neither visited by their relatives and friends nor do they get information about what is happening in the outside world. Their cell is next to the execution chamber, a grim reminder of their proximity to death.
"Going to sleep everyday knowing that the execution chamber is next to you is torture enough," says one of the convicts.
The women inmates waiting for death at the Langata Women's Prison are not any different. Though looking slightly more relaxed, their worst torture, they say, is not knowing the fate of the children they left behind.
In maximum prisons, death hovers really close. But for these convicts, death comes even earlier, when they are abandoned by their families and friends.
"We are not yet dead, please do not bury us alive, come and visit," is the message from these men and women waiting for execution at an unspecified date.
According to the inmates, the main reason no one visits them is because they are believed to have been already executed.
Yet except for those who may have died of natural causes, most of the death row prisoners are alive.
The last legal execution took place in Kenya in 1987. It may seem that the Government has in principle stopped executions. Although the courts still mete out the penalty, in reality it is never executed.
If one is lucky, he or she is released on presidential clemency. For instance, in February 2003, President Kibaki released 28 prisoners on death row and commuted 195 others to life sentences.
The other reason why death row convicts are not visited is the nature of the crime they committed. Some may have killed a relative or done something that makes them a pariah, and are left to carry the guilt to the grave.
Currently, there are 102 death row inmates at Kamiti Maximum Prison, while Langata Women's Prison had 26. The number keeps rising depending on how many are convicted by the courts.
There have also been indications that the Government will do away with the death penalty. Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Kiraitu Murungi has said a number of times that the Government wants to repeal that law on grounds that it is barbaric and has no place in modern society.
Whether they are innocent of the crimes they have been convicted of remains debatable. What is certain is that their fate is sealed.
Many of the condemned inmates have appealed several times over their sentences without success. Others are still awaiting ruling on their appeals.
Regardless of the sentence, convicts long for visits from friends and relatives to give some consolation in life that there are people who care for them. But this is slow in coming.
"We try our best to trace relatives of inmates who have not been visited for a long time. We write letters to them to get them to visit the inmates, but sometimes, the crime committed may have driven a wedge between the inmates and their loved ones and it becomes hard to reconcile them," says Mr Charles Muraya, the officer commanding Kamiti Maximum Prison.
Years come and go and prisoners on death sentence keep staring through the bars hoping for a day their names will be called out announcing the arrival of a visitor - a relative or a friend. Hardly does that happen.
Eventually, anguish and uncertainty set in and bring to bear the full weight of the death sentence.
(source: The Nation)