Two-thirds of Death Row Prisoners in Kenya Battling ill Health

A new report shows that at least two-thirds of  death row prisoners in Kenya are battling physical and mental health challenges.

The report dubbed Living With a Death Sentence in Kenya: Prisoners’ Experiences of Crime, Punishment and Death Row was launched by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) in collaboration with its development partners.

The survey conducted by The Death Penalty Project indicates that 67 per cent of inmates sentenced to death over robbery with violence and murder said their physical health had suffered.

63 per cent of inmates whose death sentences had been commuted and who were now serving a life sentence reported to have suffered ill health .

“Some time away from death row may have improved their health, though the difference was not statistically significant,” part of the report reads.

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Further, the report says that men were more likely to report deteriorating physical health at 67 per cent compared to women at 45 per cent.

According to the study, 63 per cent of the inmates interviewed said their mental health had suffered since going to prison.

“This was a little higher for death-sentenced prisoners (65%) than for those now serving a life sentence (57%),” the report adds.

“Two-thirds of the prisoners said that their relationships with families had deteriorated following their conviction, with 1 in 10 having no visitors in prison,” the report further stated.

The survey involved a total of 671 prisoners spread across 12 Kenyan prisons

They included those currently under sentence of death but also those previously sentenced to death who later had their sentence commuted.

Currently, Kenya has approximately 600 prisoners on death row.