Amnesty International concerned over prison deaths

Amnesty International (AI) has expressed concern over the deaths of six inmates in unclear circumstances in a prison in the central Kenyan town of Meru earlier this week, saying that the government may be failing to respect the rights of prisoners. The human rights watchdog, in a statement issued on Friday, welcomed a decision by the Kenyan authorities to probe the deaths and urged the government to ensure that the investigation was "independent and thorough" and to publicise the results of a post-mortem. Five prisoners were found dead in a reportedly overcrowded cell in the Meru prison on 27 September. A sixth victim died on the way to the hospital. The medical officer in charge of the district reportedly said the victims may have suffocated and they had sustained injuries consistent with congestion. "Amnesty International is gravely concerned that the government of Kenya is failing to protect the lives of citizens in its custody," the human-rights group said. More than 20 other prisoners from the same jail have been admitted to the hospital and local television stations have broadcast footage of the seriously ill inmates and others with swollen limbs in pain. Authorities have, since the deaths became public, transferred some of the inmates to other jails to ease congestion in the Meru prison. Local human rights organisations have alleged that some inmates had been tortured by prison warders, not only in Meru district, but also in other parts of the country. "Prison conditions in Kenya continue to be harsh," AI said in its statement. "The six prisoners who died in Meru were sharing a 6 by 3-feet cell with seven other inmates. Information gathered by Amnesty International indicates that Meru G.K. Prison, designed for 500 inmates, currently accommodates at least 1,400 prisoners, with some spending the night in the corridor and others sharing beds." It urged the Kenyan government "to honour its international obligation to end torture in Kenyan prisons and urgently take practical steps to address harsh conditions in accordance with the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment and the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners". In September 2000, six prisoners on death row died at King'ong'o prison, near Nyeri town in Central Province. Prison officials alleged that the prisoners fell from an eight-metre high perimeter fence. But independent post-mortem tests carried out due to pressure from human-rights organisations and family members showed that the victims had been subjected to beatings with blunt objects. Several prison warders were charged with murder and the case is still pending in court.