OUR JUNE PRISON RUN-COMPLETE LOCKDOWN

We visit the South African Women once a month. 

We travel to Langata, which is around 1 hour and 20 minutes from home, one way, on the first Monday of each month.  We decided to pick a day that would not change, so that the women knew when we were coming and also their family members knew, so if they wanted letters, messages and photos taken to their loved ones, they knew when we would be visiting.

This was the first month that I was travelling to see the women without Jaqui.  She was an integral part of the whole process, dealing with family members in South Africa, transferring of family monies to the women and the force behind our visits.  She was very missed today, and as Nikki now steps in to keep me company and to keep the visits going, it is now us at ground level deal with small requests from the women where we can.  The great news is that Jax is still going to be helping with the women, all the way from South Africa, and hopes to be more hands on with the family members direct down there and see if we can bring the women’s plight more prominent back in their homeland.

So my partner in crime (no pun intended) was Ms Nix today.  With some work commitments in the morning for Nix, we decided to do an afternoon run to the prison, which was a first for me, as we had always done a morning run, with school pickup commitments on the old shift with Jax.  But there was a new crew in town now and I was more than happy to give the afternoon visit a go.  I had previously Googled the prison to see if there were ‘visiting’ hours and to be honest there is not a lot of information on the prison at all.  There are no Wikipedia pages, they don’t have their own web page and all there really is, is a bunch of blog entries, like my own, from people who have visited over the years.  So we shouldn’t have been surprised when we turned up at 1.15pm to be told that we were early, as visiting hours started again at 2pm.

I have said it before, but every time we go to the prison, there are always different staff, different procedures and different requirements.  One of the main things that pretty much never changes is when we drive up to the main gate; we are told that we are not allowed to take my car in.  EVERY TIME.  I then tell the guard that we have been coming since January and we have been allowed to drive on the premises on each visit.  I sometimes need to drop Madam O (the Deputy Officers name), sometimes we do see a staff member that knows us and puts in a good word, and most times it really is just a confidence thing, act like you own the world, be positive and we have never been declined.  Until today. 

The guard who we were talking to, I recognized from a previous visit, so he knows us and who we are visiting, but they insist on playing this power game with us.  I play along, because if you piss them off, they could make our entry a nightmare and we are always full of smiles and hellos, which I hope pisses them off and we are all on a level playing field!  So he took my ID (my Kenyan License) and I was prepared, and presented him with the women’s names written on a piece of paper, as this is ‘sometimes’ required.  He checked it all out and told us that we were early, but when we came back the car would not be permitted to be driven through the gates.  I was ready for this and said that we were ALWAYS allowed to take the car in, and he said not to today.  I replied back that we would be driving through today (with a smile) and he just replied back with “we will see” and NO smile.   

As we were early, we were literally turned away.  As we had 45 minutes to kill, we travelled down the road to Galleria Mall where we had a bite to eat and then headed back to the prison getting back there at 2.15pm.  When we drove back in, I noticed straight away that there were more guards than usual, counting I saw 5, not counting the 2 women in the security room and the gate master as well.  We were stopped in our tracks before I even got to the gate telling us that we had to park out front today and would we would have to enter on foot.  Not knowing what we found out later, I gave it a good crack, telling him we have never parked out front before, we were always allowed in, we had boxes of clothes for the nursery school, magazines and care packages for the women and it would be too much to have to carry it all in from the front gate.  All of this got me NOWHERE.  So I pulled out my last big card, and asked if Madam O was on the premises, was told yes, and I said that I would call her to get her permission for entry.  So I made the call, explained who I was, hoping she would remember me without Jax, and was told in no certain terms that the car would NOT be allowed in today.  There was a situation at the prison and not only would the car not be allowed, but only one of us would be permitted into the prison today.  BUGGER.  I played my trump card and failed miserably and possibly made it worse as Nix wouldn’t be able to go in.  So I was told where to park my car, which I questioned as it was a mud pit, and as good as Suzy Blue is, I was sure she would have gotten bogged, so I questioned the guard and he told me to park on a more hardened muddy area thankfully.      

So I got out of the car, leaving my keys in the ignition in case Nix had to make a run for it, and I asked the guard if there was a ‘situation’, would I be allowed to take in the girls care packages.  I’m not sure he understood me too well, as I didn’t understand a word he replied back with and I started to leave the car when he asked what about ‘my friend’.  I asked if she was allowed to come, and he replied back “why not”, so we left the care packages for now, left our bags and proceeded with the girls money, letters, photos and our ID’s to the security checkpoint.  This was the second time in 6 months that I had to go through this process.  As it was just passed 2pm, there were around 25 people who had ‘signed in’ and were all packed into a small 4 x 4 room, where they had to surrender their phones and ID’s and wait for the last of the visitors to be checked through.  That included us and there were 3 people in front of us going through this process when Madam C came through the gate looking for us.  Madam O had sent her up, which I thought was quite nice that she sent someone to check on us and help us through the ‘new’ process.  Madam C checked the letters; she sent a few messages, checked our ID and then told us that only one of us was allowed in.  Frustrating.  You talk to one person get told something, talk to another and get told something else.  Luckily Madam C liked us and she suggested that maybe one of us could visit the remand girls and one of us could visit Lebo in maximum security and then we could swap around.  She was very helpful and it was a great idea so that we both could still go in together, especially knowing that Madam O probably told her that only one of us were permitted to enter today. 

We asked Madam C about the care packages, and she said to go and get them, so Nix ran back to the car and got the 6 bags, which contained a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap (only Detol allowed), body lotion, 2 rolls of toilet paper and a small chocolate bar, which Nix removed at the car, and was a very smart idea with the state of the security and the seriousness of everyone around us.  We were also told that we would not be permitted to visit Lebo this time, as she was in lockdown for misbehaving.  It is a shame and quite coincidental that Madam O was back in the hood and Lebo was off bounds again to visitors.  I have a feeling those two have a hate hate relationship going on and I am thinking it could be some time before we get to see her again.  The letters and photos were approved and the 25 odd people were cleared out of the security room and we entered to have the care packages checked, and this trip the lotion was not allowed (this also changes each trip), so while Nikki ran back to the car to take back the lotions and Lebo’s package, all the toothpaste was emptied out of their boxes and the bags repacked. 

When we exited the office, the other visitors were being scanned for any metals and one of the men in front of us was caught with a Stanley knife tucked into his socks!!!  So needless to say there was a heated exchange and from what I could make out he was still permitted to visit, minus a knife in his sock.  I was hoping that we wouldn’t be scanned as I had my phone tucked in my bra, which was a security measure for us than for any other reason.  We then as a group, we were all escorted through the gates and walked the 300m to the remand centre for some of us and there were others who were visiting prisoners in the maximum prison.  It was at this time, I asked the one person we knew Madam E, who was one of the escorts, why the changes in procedures and we were told that the prison was in ‘lockdown’ as there was talk of a terrorist threat on the prison itself.  Well this would have been good information to have received BEFORE we found ourselves on prison property.  Not that it would have deterred me from visiting the girls today, but I think it was an important piece of information that should have been shared possibly.  I don’t get why terrorists would want to attack a prison, with the security and armed guards throughout the compound, thinking it wouldn’t be an ‘easy’ target and the ‘why’.  A prison?  Really?  It’s not the first time that the warning has happened here, as the girls told us on our last visit of a similar incident last month.     

Because there were around 15 of us, we waited with everyone in a small concrete waiting room (we decided to wait in the shade on the outside) for our names to be called so that we could see our girls.  We only had to wait around 15 minutes to be called and we were lucky that we got to see the women through a chicken wire window, where we can hold their hands and hear them properly.  The other visitors had to talk through a Perspex window with just a few holes for the sound to travel through, so in that respect we were given a small reprieve and I think our friend Madam E was partly to thank for that.  The 5 women all looked in good shape, as much as one could be.  We handed in the letters which Madam E took and said they must be checked, even though Madam C had already given the go ahead, the photos of Ms E and Ms T were shown to them, where tears of happiness were shed, but then the pictures were taken from them and would have to be cleared (again) before they would be given to the women.  The problem with this is that the ladies don’t always get them back, whether it be for censoring, care factor or they go ‘missing’, but we have done as much as we can from our side, it is then in the hands of the people in charge.  It is a difficult situation with the 5 of them on one side of the window and the 2 of us on the other.  It is hard to talk to them one on one in front of the others.  There is information they don’t want the others to know with their own situations, so we have to keep the talk light, asking about court appearances, and how are they doing.  We also don’t get a lot of time, and that is even after Madam E gives us extra time, so with the care packages handed over, our monthly donation of 1000KSH, that we give each woman onto their prison accounts, that Jax, Nix and I contribute to each month, our visit was terminated after 15 minutes with waves, air kisses and the promise of our visit again next month. 

It really is a tough situation for these women. 

We walk away hoping that giving them the care packages and the money each month makes their stay a little more comfortable, if nothing else.  It was a damn shame that we didn’t get to see Lebo this trip, a real shame, but hopefully next month we will get to see her bright smile and pass on a small piece of hope that there are people who care for her, even though there is nothing more that can be done for her situation as she is the only one who has been tried and convicted out of the 6 women.