Prison can be likened to a small hell. Nobody ever wishes to land in such places because of testimonies from people who have been there.
One Vivian Akinyi Awuor, opened up to YouTuber Lynne Ngungi about her life in prison thus highlighting some of the challenges that female prisoners undergo.
Akinyi served her jail term at Lang’ata Women’s prison for attempted murder and malicious damage to property. This is after she attempted to kill her husband and his side chick by setting their house on fire. She was arrested while fleeing to Kisumu after the incident.
The mother of two, who was 20-years old then, had been married at a tender age of 16 years old after failing to proceed with her high school education due to lack of school fees.
Akinyi admitted that life in prison is not easy and confirmed that it was true women share panties while in jail. She had no underwear when she was taken to Lang’ata and one of the inmates gave her one. Another difficult moment was during the menstruation period.
“When you are on periods, the government provides free pads, you go to the office to ask for pads but for them to give you, you have to remove your underwear and show them that you are actually menstruating.
“You can not lie and you are only given three pieces and I remember I was sick but I was not aware, when I was taken to Kenyatta, that is when I discovered that I have cervical cancer but it had not progressed, God is good I got treated early enough,” Vivian recalled.
According to her, she had a heavy flow due to her condition and the pads they were being provided with were very inadequate but the prison warders never cared so the inmates had to come up with ways to survive.
“There is a friend of mine, I would give her my used pad to put on her panty and she would go and ask for more pads so when she is given the three pieces she gives them to me,” she said.
The inmates would also be searched very early in the morning while completely naked.
“At other times, you are searched at 6 am. You are asked to match out of the cells naked one by one while squatting. Once the search is done, you discover that the little things like soap and panties are missing so the only thing you remain with is the prison uniform,” the mother of two said.
The inmates had no spare clothes. They would always put on the single prison uniform that they had been given and that would only be changed when it is torn. She added that she was only allowed to see her children once per year.
“I put on the dress for almost 7 years. When it is torn, you take the torn one [to the office] and that is when you will be given a new one.Â
I used to see my children once a year. They would be brought in December, that is when we had remote parenting. My son never used to talk to me. Their father had no interest in them,” Vivian said.
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