Ex-journalist wants State to allow prisoners to attend relatives’ funerals
Kiambu inmate Moses Dola.
Prison inmates will be able to attend the funeral ceremonies of close family members if a petition filed in court is allowed.
Moses Dola Otieno, an inmate at the Kiambu GK prison, wants the law changed to allow bereaved convicts to be informed and get automatic permission to attend the funerals of their loved ones.
Dola was in 2018 convicted of manslaughter in the death former NTV journalist Wambui Kabiru who was his wife and mother of their child.
Dola wants the commissioner-general of prisons compelled to put in place mechanisms and structures that will facilitate convicted prisoners and remand inmates to attend funeral services.
Armed with Chapter 4 of the Bill of Rights 22 (1) and (2) (a) and (b), the petitioner wants the court to address what he calls a violation and erosion of their fundamental freedoms and rights by prisons.
He claims inmates are discriminated against regarding the right to equal protection and equal enjoyment of benefits before the law.
Dola, who claims he filed the case on behalf of other prisoners in Kenya, says inmates feel aggrieved by the absence of structures and mechanisms in the Kenya Prisons Service (KPS) to help them mourn their relatives who die.
He cites the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, United Nations statutes and authorities in foreign jurisdictions.
He also cites a recent case where Justice Stella Mutuku allowed Sarah Cohen, the widow of the late billionaire businessman Tob Cohen, to attend his burial while she was at the Lang'ata Women's Prison.
"There should be set structures by the KPS through the commissioner General of prisons to deal with funerals relating to close family members of convicted prisoners and remand inmates across all prisons within the republic of Kenya," the petition says.
Dola was prompted to file the petition after he lost his mother but was not allowed to attend her funeral, something that he says aggrieved him and his fellow inmates.
Bereaved inmates
In his affidavit, he claims the KPS had failed to set up a system of dealing with bereaved inmates.
He argues that when convicts and remand inmates fail to attend the funerals of their close family members, it subjects them to untold mental anguish and depression.
He says many inmates cannot afford to file applications in court to ask for permission to attend funerals.
He proposes that the KPS set up a multi-disciplinary committee to review inmates’ requests for permission to attend funerals.
Once the committee allows the prisoner to attend a funeral, he should be handcuffed and accompanied by police officers to and from the event.
Dola sued the KPS and the Attorney-General.
He wants the court to compel the KPS to formulate structures that allow inmates to attend the funerals of loved ones by empowering prison officers to oversee the process.
He also wants the AG, the commissioner-general of prisons and other relevant agencies to prepare legal frameworks to guide the process.
