Sirisia Member of Parliament John Waluke has urged Kenyans to stay away from crime because the experience he has had in prison for the last four months has been horrible, and that he would not wish even for his worst enemy.
“Being jailed for 74 years shocked me, for sure. And, because the matter had been ruled upon [by a court of law], there was no other choice for me but to begin serving time in jail,” the lawmaker, who is out on Ksh10 million cash bail after filing an appeal against his sentencing, told Citizen Television on Friday, October 2.
“The four months I have spent in jail have been difficult. I lost my freedom and a sense of normal living; everything, including the [type of] food I was taking had changed. There is [usually] very little one can do within the prison compound, which is very small [in size],” he said, adding: “It took me at least three weeks to adjust to life in prison.”
The legislator said unlike in the civil world where he would be surrounded by people most times due to the nature of his job as a politician, in jail, he was a lone bird.
“I spent most times seated alone without interacting with the other inmates,” he said.
“Regardless of one’s social status, the meal being served across the board is of the same quality. There is no food from outside that is allowed into the facility,” he said, adding: “In jail, we took lunch at 10am and supper at 2pm.” he added.
From 2pm, an inmate is locked up until 6am, when he is released to take breakfast, which is a cup of porridge, Waluke said.
“I found the meals quite interesting. For example, during lunch one would take a whole leaf of boiled Sukuma wiki immersed in so much watery soup. I would say that that meal is just cooked water, which we took with Ugali. And, because one is jailed, there is nothing much he can do about the meal. I did not get preferential treatment from the cooks.”
“Several prisoners sleep together in one room,” he said.
“So, all inmates sleep while facing one direction. Later in the night, they are woken up to change sleeping positions and face the other direction. There is a popular inmate known as Governor who alerts the sleeping prisoners to change sleeping positions. Should you wake up in the middle of the night to visit the toilet, you won’t find any sleeping space for you when you return. You will, consequently, have to stand until morning,” said Waluke.
“There are around 3,000 inmates in Kamiti against a mattress population of 200. So, if you find even a small piece of mattress, you appreciate; so long as you catch some sleep without pressing your ribs against the concrete floor.”
The Member of Parliament said jail, and not Ksh1 billion fine, was the only punishment option for him because “honestly, I couldn’t raise Ksh1 billion regardless how much I tried”.
