Joseph ‘Jowie’ Irungu is reportedly struggling to adjust after being moved to Kamiti Maximum Security Prison from Industrial Area Remand Prison. The update came on 21 November 2018, after a visit from media personality Joe Muchiri, who said the transfer has not been easy on him.
Irungu, the suspect in the Monica Kimani murder case and fiancé to Citizen TV presenter Jacque Maribe, had spent more than two months at Industrial Area Remand Prison before the transfer. Justice James Wakiaga had previously described him as a ‘woman eater’.
Muchiri said on Twitter that his friend was finding the new environment difficult. He wrote, “Kamiti is no joke” and later indicated that Jowie was not coping well.
The move was part of a wider relocation of capital offenders from Industrial Area Prison to Kamiti. That exercise began in August after several inmates staged a hunger strike over alleged brutality and harassment by prison warders.
Kamiti Maximum Security Prison is designed to hold hardened offenders and is better equipped for that role, which appears to be part of why the transfer has been difficult for Irungu.
