Foreigners convicted of fraud-related crimes are being offered VIP treatment at Industrial Area Remand prison after paying off prison staff.
Foreign fraudsters mainly Chinese, Koreans, Nigerians, Cameroonian and Rwandese get preferential treatment compared to their Kenyan counterparts.
Some have opting to have their cases heard while in remand, despite being given cash bails.
According to People Daily, VIP treatment includes special meals either prepared specifically for them or ordered from outside and new beddings.
They also have access to phone facilities, showers and unlimited medical prescriptions.
The remand prison is one of the largest penal facility in Nairobi and regularly hosts capital offence remandees facing murder, fraud and illegal immigration among other charges.
Some of the facility officials have used it for money-making by selling contraband to prisoners who can afford them.
Assistant Commissioner of Prisons Samuel Ruto noted that the malpractices could either be taking place ‘quietly’ or had been happening before.
“Save for a few things that could be happening under the table, which really cannot qualify such claims…at least for now, if it used to happen before I came, I do not know, I have been here for 10 months now.”
Ruto however refuted allegations that foreigners were buying VIP treatment terming them as malicious and flawed.
“We do not allow that in this facility. We don’t do that here. I am not even aware of such cases. There is nothing extra we are offering them,” he stated.
