Prisons are often deemed as the hotbed of folks who are marked as a threat to peaceful societal co-existence.
Many law-abiding feel quite safe when their offensive counterparts are landed in the confines of prison following their acts of anarchy or misconduct. The big question therefore arises; just how hard is it to escape from these dreaded "safe boxes"?
Kenya has had a fair share of prison breaks and numerous incidences have been recorded. Let us have a detailed look into the most conspicuous prison escapes from the year 2002 to late 2015.
Below is a list of 15 of these daring jail breaks.
October 8, 2015: An inmate at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, William Muiruri Meta, escaped from the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) where he was receiving treatment for injuries he incurred at the hands of a prison warder. He was serving his 14-year jail term for robbery with violence.
July 14, 2015: Five prisoners, among them three Britons, linked to terrorist groups, escaped from Bungoma Prison. Two who vanished were capital offenders, while the foreigners were in remand for being in the country illegally and were being questioned over possible links to terrorism.
May 23, 2015: Three prisoners serving life sentences escaped from Kamiti Maximum Prison. Joseph Kinyanjui, John Kamau Gathoni and Isaac Karanja Mwangi escaped by cutting grilles during a blackout at the prison.
January 31, 2015: Five inmates of Eldoret Prison in Uasin Gishu escaped after overpowering two armed warders in a prison vehicle transporting them to the Kabarnet Law Courts in Baringo. Some of the escapees were death row inmates.
December 17, 2014: Peter Kamau Ndung’u, a Bachelor of Commerce student and Naivasha Maximum Prison inmate on life sentence, escaped while he had gone to sit an exam at University of Nairobi. A robbery with violence convict, Ndung’u had been held up as a poster boy of prison reforms when he came to the national limelight in 2010 after breezing through his accountancy exams while he was behind bars. He is still on the run.
March 20, 2012: Gilbert Mwangi Ibrahim, a robbery suspect who was serving a three-month jail term, escaped from Embu GK Prison mysteriously. He had only served about one month before he fled.
October 26, 2011: Six remand prisoners, among them four capital offense suspects, escaped from Eldoret GK Prison. The remandees went through the ceiling and drilled a hole in a prison block.
October 14, 2011: Five capital offence suspects escaped from Embu Remand Prison while being taken to court. Richard Mbogo Ndagara alias Ibilisi, an escapee who was rearrested, told the court that a police officer had aided their escape.
September 21, 2011: Six hard-core criminals attempted to escape from Kamiti Maximum Prison. The prisoners had cut grilles in their cells and had already come out when a warder on duty spotted them.
August 7, 2011: Six remandees escaped from police custody in Webuye while two were shot dead in the process. The remandees faced capital charges that included robbery with violence and murder. Among the group that escaped were gunmen who had attacked Cabinet minister Soita Shitanda and Kimilili MP Eseli Simiyu.
October 2010: Thirteen inmates escaped from the Busia GK Prison, leading to the arrest of seven prison warders. Eleven of the escaped prisoners had been charged with robbery with violence while two had been sentenced to life imprisonment.
December 18, 2007: Seven death-row inmates escaped from Naivasha Maximum Prison. ODM claimed the convicts had been released by the government to assassinate a top opposition politician.
March 4, 2007: Five death row convicts escaped from Nakuru GK Prison. The prisoners grabbed a pistol from an officer as they were being searched for tools used to cut grilles before the convicts escaped. Two of the escapees were convicted for the murder of a Nakuru taxi operator and another was a notorious highway robber.
April 21, 2004: Twenty-eight violent robbery suspects escaped from Naivasha Maximum Security Prison. Parliament was told that laxity of prison warders and inadequate staff led to the escape. Five of the escapees were rearrested within a week.
September 27, 2002: Landry Sironga, a convict who was serving a four-year jail term for being a self-confessed member of Mungiki sect escaped from Kamiti Maximum Prison.
There are still more prison breaks that we will delve into in the middle of the week from mid 2015 to as recently as last month.
