Criminalization of sodomy in Kenya and its effect on reporting of sexual assault among Kenyan male prisoners

Interview with Former Inmate 1
Interviewer: What is your name?
Interviewee: My name is XXX
Interviewer: How old are you?
Interviewee: 48
Interviewer: When were you released from prison?
Interviewee: 7 August 2018
Interviewer: When did you start serving your sentence?
Interviewee: 7 April 2005
Interviewer: What crime had you committed?
Interviewee: Grievous harm
Interviewer: How did you end up here?
Interviewee: I had gone out drinking with my brother. We got into a disagreement at home and started fighting. I picked up a panga and threatened to harm him. He called my bluff and I cut him with a machete.
Interviewer: Where do you come from?
Interviewee: Gicugu, Kirinyaga.
Interviewer: Tell me more.
Interviewee: There was no reasoning with me when I was drunk. So I cut my brother using a panga because I was not thinking clearly. The next day I was taken to court and I thought it was about the drinking, not grievous harm.
Interviewer: Had you ever been arrested before?
Interviewee: No, I had not.
Interviewer: Did you get a lawyer?
Interviewee: No, I did not. I did not know that I needed a lawyer because cases involving drunkenness need someone to plead guilty to the charges. But when I got to the courthouse, the charges were advanced to grievous harm. My charges were read (Unclear 2:25) in relation to section 234 instead of 251 because I had cut my brother. We started the court proceedings. After a few months, approximately seven, judgment was passed. I was given a twenty-year jail term.
Interviewer: Did you try resolving issues with your brother?
Interviewee: My brother (unclear 2:56) said he was being pushed not to withdraw the charges. He refused to use the cultural ways of resolving conflict for fear that I might harm him again. So he left the court to decide my fate. That is how I got the twenty-year jail term.
Interviewer: Where were you being held?
Interviewee: Gicugu. I was remanded in Kerugoya. I was taken to Embu as well for about two weeks. In May 2005, I was taken to Nyeri to start serving but was later transferred to Kamiti Prison. Then I was taken back to Embu again. I stayed there for five years
Interviewer: Why did they move you from Nyeri?
Interviewee: I trained to be a tailor and there were very few jobs in Nyeri prison. I needed to keep my mind busy so that I could reduce the stress that burdened me. However, in Kamiti people work from January to January with one or two week breaks in between jobs. Such jobs kept me busy all through.
Interviewer: What were you making?
Interviewee: Police uniforms. Sometimes we made clothes for (unclear 5.19)
Interviewer: Does it mean you were trained?
Interviewee: Yes, I was. I did not know how to tailor before then. I even made the clothes I am wearing right now.
Interviewer: When were you taken to Embu?
Interviewee: November 2012.
Interviewer: Then got released in August, right?
Interviewee: Yes.
Interviewer: After they read your judgment, you were taken to Embu. Why?
Interviewee: I was put in segregation. (Unclear 6.17) Because the prison space was so small. I was then moved to Nyeri.
Interviewer: How was your first day in prison?
Interviewee: I was very scared and reserved because my cellmates were convicted for murder and were condemned for life. I feared that they would kill me. However, I got to know them and overcame that fear.
Interviewer: You said that you feared them. How’s it? Did they try beating you up?
Interviewee: No, they did not beat me up. But they had very suggestive behaviour. They kept pestering me with questions such as where I came from, why I cut my brother. They then informed me to respect the government and them too.
Interviewer: Did your age give you an advantage?
Interviewee: Yes, because I was a bit older than most of them. They gave me some sort of respect and space. They called me Mzee. I also stood out because I wore my dirty bloody clothes for a while before I could get uniforms.
I spent a lot of time alone as they gathered in their social circles and proceeded with their lives. That is also how I learned that smaller males were made the wives of the macho men.
Interviewer: Did you notice that when you went back in 2012?
Interviewee: Actually no. After staying for about two weeks I started getting a sense of things. I’d hear that one man is another man’s wife in the community chatter. I asked around and was informed that they are copying homosexuality from Mombasa. I was shocked to learn that since I had not witnessed such things in my life. I only knew that men slept with women. I observed that the macho men took care of their wives like they were actual women.  For instance, they provided by buying food, clothes, snacks, bhang, tobacco and getting them favours.
Interviewer: Were such men raped?
Interviewee: No. They were actually ‘married’ to their partners. This was also because of seeking safety and assistance from able men who had some sort of influence in the prisons.
Interviewer: Is the government aware that such things happen?
Interviewee: Yes, they are. But what would they do about the prison structures? We needed more physical space.
Interviewer: All this happened in 2005, right? Had anything changed when you went back to Embu in November 2012?
Interviewee: Yes. When I got back there I found that there was more physical space and rooms. However, it was the same lifestyle. I think inmates do not actually change, they adapt to the harsh environment in order to survive. I also think that jail doesn’t positively impact a prisoner. Unless someone genuinely desires to change for the better.
Interviewer: Tell me more about the physical spaces.
Interviewee: There was a mixed block. Which held people serving life sentences, the condemned and long-termers. It was worse if the young men who were jailed. They would get married to influential older men. As such they would do anything without question. For example, sneaking phones around and giving in to sexual advances.
Interviewer: Where were you placed after returning?
Interviewee: I was mixed with the ordinary prisoners.
Interviewer: How was your experience like?
Interviewee: Homosexuality was common there too but not as much as in the mixed room. The Meru, Embu, and Mbere communities made most of the prison wives. In fact, when they were brought to prison, they were called ‘Embu girls’. They come off as stupid and easy to manipulate. Prisoners convicted of rape and defilement become women within the prison.
Interviewer: Would you say that they are being punished by other inmates?
Interviewee: Yes, it comes off as revenge. Inmates did not like such crimes because it did not make sense how handsome men would not be able to approach a girl.
Interviewer: How did this whole punishment start from your observations?
Interviewee: After a rapist is convicted, he is lured with gifts such as phones, credit, money, and food. Phones are usually sneaked and sold by the guards. Their food is cooked on request so they get special treatment. Special food was called ‘chepe chepe’. He would also get new clothes and shoes as part of the gifts. We would know that he is someone’s wife because of the high-end shoes they wear.
Interviewer: How long does the process last?
Interviewee: Less than a week.
Interviewer: How does he become a wife?
Interviewee: They are told that they have to pay for all the gifts and favors through sex. Otherwise, all their gifts are taken away and they get back to struggling.
Interviewer: Does someone have a choice?
Interviewee: Yes, they do. But because they get preferential treatment, they give in to sex and become wives.
Interviewer: Does that mean that the ‘wives’ get addicted to the lifestyle they are provided by their mates?
Interviewee: Yes, that is how it works. Such people are already used to the easy life. So they have no reservations against having sex with other men. In Kamiti, it is the Kamba that was made wives. Sometimes tribe’s men became partners as well.
Interviewer: Do they swap partners or break up with them?
Interviewee: No. they actually stick with their partners for the long term. They are only separated by transfers. New inmates also got ‘married’ to others who had influence and they were informed about the partners who were taken. You would find a group of people who were married to each other in one room.