Suspected serial killer, who had been remanded at Kodiaga prison in Kisumu, attempted to commit suicide by setting himself a blaze inside his prison cell.
Harrison Okumu, was rescued by his colleagues and prison warders, who rushed him to Kisumu District Hospital where he is admitted with severe burns.
Kisumu police boss Nelson Njiri confirmed that the inmate was disturbed on Monday.
Njiri said Okumu had scaled the prison wall and wanted to commit suicide by jumping over the fence.
“It took the intervention of his colleagues to persuade him to come down. This was after attempts by the warders, who threatened to shoot him dead if he failed to climb down, failed,” said Njiri.
He said investigations are underway to establish how he managed to smuggle the materials he used to set himself a blaze inside the prison cells.
Njiri said Okumu is under heavy security watch while undergoing treatment at the hospital.
“Prison warders are at the hospital guarding the inmate,” he added.
Okumu will have additional charges of attempted suicide once he is out of the hospital.
He was arrested early this year after he was accused of killing more than five people and burying them in shallow graves beside his house in Rabuor village in the outskirts of Kisumu town.