In an unlucky turn of events James Muchiri and Benson Mutua found themselves taking their Kenya Secondary Certificate Exam (KCSE) at Nakuru GK prison.

The two who had registered in Baltimore High school and Hillcrest High school respectively scored Es.

Muchiri, the 18 year old says, “On March last year, Mutua together with my four friends who are also in prison had gone to a joint to play a video game when our friend got in a fight. In the process of defending our friend, six bottles of chrome worth Sh 1500 went missing.”

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According to Muchiri, he assumed all that happened on that day ended only for him to get arrested on June 11th on a Saturday, as he was relaxing at the pool table and accused of robbery with violence.

Muchiri discloses “My arrest unfolded to me as a misery during my mid-term break from the academic grind. Since then, I had no other option but to continue pursuing my education behind bars.”

Muchiri states that stress and lack of concentration became part and parcel of his journey to academic success as his dreams seemed distant, blurred by the weight of the accusations against him.

Muchiri notes, “I lacked concentration in the unfamiliar environment of no freedom that I hardly read since there was no access to books, only a business study textbook.”

Mutua as well agrees with Muchiri as his left uttering the word “crime si poa”, a haunting phrase of the path he had chosen, with a lot of remorse and regret written all over his face.

“If I had not fought I would have done my studies in school like my other age mates, but my journey has taken an unexpected turn. I hope God will intervene on our third hearing slated for January 22 as the six of us are innocent,” he expresses painfully.

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Edward Kerindo, Social Welfare Prison Officer says, “Since Nakuru GK prison is not a KCSE centre but KCPE, we had not prioritized them. Therefore, we would request their parents to bring them books. We later came to learn that they weren’t brought any revision materials.”

Additionally, he notes that the two students were remanded, therefore there was no way they would be transferred to Naivasha prison which is a KCSE centre, since it is only convicted people that are held there.

The facilitator police, Daniel Kamau during an interview on January 10, 2023.

Photo credit: WINNIE KIMANI/MTAA WANGU

Daniel Kamau, one of the five facilitators’ shares, “Our work was to ensure that the two young inmates were settled in time to do their exams, collect KCSE papers in Milimani Primary for them and take them to Crater Secondary School for their practicals.”

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We did our KCSE in Nakuru GK prison, after being arrested over alcohol worth Sh 1500

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Winnie Kimani