Monday, November 15, 2021, will forever remain engraved in the country's history. This is the day that three terror convicts escaped from Kenya's most secured penitentiary: The Kamiti Maximum Prison.
The escape of the three, who were arrested four days later, would see the country's Commander-in-Chief, President Uhuru Kenyatta, make radical changes in the prisons service by sacking the Commissioner General and replacing him with a military veteran.
The President sacked the Commissioner General of Kenya Prisons Services, Wycliffe Ogalo, replacing him with Brigadier (Rtd.) John Kibaso Warioba.
Kenya, like many other countries globally, has had a fair share of prison breaks that have stunned the world at large.
On Tuesday, November 16, the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government, Fred Matiang'i, and his Principal Secretary, Karanja Kibicho, accompanied by top security chiefs in the country, visited Kamiti Prison and ordered immediate investigations and action taken against anybody found culpable.
After eight hours of investigations, detectives from the Serious Crimes Investigations Unit of the DCI and prison authorities established how the jailbreak was choreographed and executed.
The three escapees dislodged a brick from Kamiti Prison before drilling the wall using a chisel. The convicts would then use a razor blade at their disposal to cut blankets into makeshift ropes they used to scale the walls of the most guarded prison.
What shocked the nation is how the trio managed to beat three security layers in the facility, maneuvered through a well lit facility that has CCTV cameras with several officers on patrol and other five officers on watchtowers monitoring the situation at the facility.
The fugitives were Musharaf Abdalla alias Alex Shikanda (34) from Mumias who was serving 22 years in prison, Joseph Juma Odhiambo from Matungu serving 15 years for terror related crimes, and Mohammed Ali Abikar serving a 41-year-jail term, having been convicted in 2019 for his role in the Garissa University attack.
The arrest of the escaped terror convicts followed hours after two other escapees were arrested in Kisumu. the duo, Elvis Odhiambo and Mohammed Aden Hussein, who were facing robbery with violence charges, had escaped from Kapsoya Police Station in Eldoret and traveled for miles only to be nabbed in Kisumu a week later.
On October 13, self-confessed serial killer, Masten Wanjala, escaped from Jogoo Road Police station. Preliminary investigations indicated that Masten was last seen sharing a meal with other prisoners when he took advantage of the lights outage and introduction of new inmates to escape.
His escape plan was smooth as it was reported that he disguised himself as one of the inmates arrested that night. He is, however, said to have bribed the wardens before making his way out. He was later lynched by residents of his home county of Bungoma.
But these are not the only cases that have stunned the nation. In September this year, 14 prisoners escaped from Nanyuki GK Prisons. According to details on their escape, the escapees cut through the doors using a hacksaw before jumping over the perimeter wall.
The daring jailbreak happened less than two months after eight prisoners went missing from Vihiga Prison on the morning of Friday, July 23, 2021.
Their escape was forceful as they sandwiched the warden on duty on the wall when he went to inspect the premise. One escapee was, however, re-arrested after a manhunt was launched.
In 2020, 10 prisoners escaped from Bungoma Police Station. The most daring jailbreak saw them dig a hole through one of the walls in the holding facility.
In other past cases, on July 14, 2015, five prisoners, among them three Britons, linked to terrorist groups, escaped from Bungoma Prison. Two of them were capital offenders, while the foreigners were in remand for being in the country illegally and were being questioned over possible links to terrorism.
The cases of inmates escaping from prisons have left citizens with more questions than answers especially on the security of the country.
