Alarmed by bad image, prisons boss moves to tame rogue officers

Lack of supervision is to blame for the increase in prison staff's involvement in crime and gross misconduct, the Commissioner-General of Prisons has said.

Mr Wycliffe Ogalo noted on Tuesday that prison officers are getting arrested for offences including transporting bhang, impersonating police officers, reckless shootings, conning and uttering false documents.

To curb the vices, Mr Ogalo directed commanders to supervise staff.

“This is a clear manifestation of lack of proper supervision from the basic level of corporals to the higher levels of duty officers in charge, security officers and officers in charge of prisons," he said in a December 31, 2018 notice to prison commanders.

He asked them confirm receipt of the notice and confirm that they understood the instructions.

RECENT SHOOTING

On December 28, 2018, a prison officer attached to Lodwar GK Prison in Turkana County shot and injured his girlfriend in a suspected case of a love triangle.

The police report stated that Prisons Constable Ayomo Emekwi Musa shot 22-year-old Jackson Lomongin on the lower abdomen before attacking the girlfriend, Ms Caren Ewalan, at around 4pm.

He then went to the house of his colleague, constable Isaac Natinga Long’ole, who strangulated him in a scuffle as he attempted to disarm him.

Mr Long’ole recovered the MP5 riffle used to shoot the victims but the assailant escaped with a magazine loaded with an unknown number of bullets.

Police declared Mr Emekwi an armed and dangerous assailant at large.

Mr Lomongin and Ms Ewalan were taken to Lodwar County Referral Hospital.

OTHER CRIMES

On December 25, Border Police Unit officers arrested two prison officers Moyale-Isiolo highway in Samburu County, after finding them ferrying 20kg of bhang using a government car.

Police reports indicated that warden Stephen Kamau and sergeant Morris Mugambi used a Toyota Land Cruiser, registration GKB 499U, belonging to Marsabit prison, where they were based.

On Monday, at least three prison officers were arrested for obtaining money by false pretences, and detained at Rongo Police Station in Migori County.

They were linked to a cartel that cons desperate job seekers with the promise of helping them secure jobs in the Kenya Defence Forces.

On Friday, boda boda operators in Kamiti seriously wounded two prison officers after they handcuffed one of them while claiming to be police officers.

The handcuffed rider, Mr John Mwangi, alerted colleagues who then attacked the prison officers.

Joseph Maina Murithi and George Gichovi Njuguna, based at Nairobi Area Remand and Allocation Prison in Industrial Area, were rescued and taken to Thika level 5 Hospital after members of the public raised the alarm.

BAD IMAGE

Mr Ogalo said, “Besides engaging in acts that are criminal in nature, they are giving the service a bad image. This cannot be entertained any longer."

“With immediate effect, all officers are required to be supervised in all manners appropriate, before, during and after deployment. This will help in curbing these unwanted and unwarranted vices.”