Kamiti maximum security prison on Monday morning experienced unrest from prisoners protesting a search for contraband. According to a statement from the Kenya Prisons Service, the inmates’ boycotted breakfast after the officers decided to make an impromptu search for contraband.
The incident was however put under control a few minutes later by officers who were on the morning shift.
All the inmates had to be locked up in their cells to calm the situation down. A similar incident happened back in 2014 when prison officers were forced to fire in the air to disperse rowdy prisoners who attempted to break out of jail.
The former commissioner-general of prisons Isaiah Osugo ordered the closure of the main canteen at the prison after it emerged that it was used to smuggle in contraband goods. He noted that some prisoners had been colluding with warders to acquire and use mobile phones to extort money from unsuspecting Kenyans.