Police in Migori county are investigating the death of an inmate who was receiving treatment at Migori Level Four Hospital on Saturday night.
The prisoner — name yet to be provided — was one of the three inmates who sought to escape from the Migori Prison on Saturday, as an SDA Church service went on at the facility.
He is said to have been tortured by warders after he was nabbed alongside a colleague as they scaled a wall to make a dash for their freedom. One prisoner escaped. Police are hunting for him.
County police commander Joseph Nthenge yesterday said they have liaised with the hospital to ascertain the cause of the death.
“He died while receiving treatment at the hospital and was among those who attempted to escape,” he said.
The deceased was arrested following a court order after he jumped bail. He was due to appear in court on January 24.
“We have launched a manhunt, which will include the prisoner’s home area. We urge the public and his relatives to alert us so we can re-arrest him,” Nthenge said.
He said no similar cases will be reported at the prison from now on.
Pastor Bering Ngore, the leader of the Ranen Conference — the local SDA Church headquarters — said they established a church at the prison after many inmates converted during their earlier visits.
“We had a successful event, despite the incident,” he said.
Prison breaking has been frequent in Migori. In May last year, a prison warder shot an Ulanda Girls’ Secondary School student in the eye as they pursued a prisoner.
rampant prison breaking
Quinter Amondi was attending regional ball games at Migori Boys’ Secondary School when a stray bullet hit her. The prisoner had entered the school. Many students fainted as warders shot in the air.
In 2015, two cases of prison breaking were reported at the facility. On July 2 that year, two prisoners assaulted a warder as they worked on Lichota farm on the outskirts of Migori town. They took his gun and escaped through a nearby sugarcane plantation. The two had been convicted of stealing a motorbike and a cow, and had just started serving three-year and eight-month jail terms.
On July 7 the same year, seven inmates escaped from police officers after the van they were travelling in from the Rongo courts collided with a mini-bus at Kokuro trading centre on the Migori-Kisii highway.
Three police officers and 14 passengers in the mini-bus sustained injuries, and several were rushed to hospitals. The suspects took advantage of the accident and fled.