The whole country is currently shocked by the news that a murder suspect who had been locked at Parklands Police Station cell allegedly committed suicide.
While the narrative will be hard to sell to anyone who has ever spent a night in a Kenyan police cell, what happens behind these heavily guarded police cubicles resembles hell, at least going by what we are told hell is like.
Having had to spend two nights at Thika Police Station cells on two different intervals, take it or leave it, it isn't something that you want anyone to go through if you have another way to resolve your issues.
So what are some of the things you can expect once you get locked up in a police cell?
1. Beating
Once you are thrown inside the dark cell, the kind of beating you receive from the other cellmates will make you loathe from being on the wrong side of the law for the rest of your life.
You will cry to the police for help but they won't come to your rescue. The kind of people you find in these cells could be remandees facing murder charges and don't give a damn about life.
They will tell you so. Never ever fight back, however, strong you feel you are because this could turn fatal.
2. 'Kuporwa'
Never ever go with anything monetary inside a police cell. You will be frisked everything and be beaten even more to give out what else you could be hiding elsewhere.
Instead, record whichever money you have at the OB box. It is much safer there!
3. Stealing of 'underclothes'
Well, I do not mean panties and other clothes of that sort. What I mean is that if you have anything under your shirt say a vest or a t-shirt, be sure not to come out of the cell with it.
You will be forced to surrender it to the 'bosses' of that cell. 'Bosses' are remandees who have been in that particular cell for weeks, others months and they pull the strings there.
It is their territory and even the police officers in that station know it.
4. Finally, you are forced to sit together in such a manner that you cannot even stretch yourself forward or backward. Sometimes even breathing becomes a task.
You have to sit that way because the cell 'bosses' have to sleep 'well' as usual irrespective of how many newcomers have been thrown into that cell.
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