Why imprisonment is a mental health risk for women

As the world celebrated Valentine’s Day on February 14, Margaret Kanzee, 53, died while undergoing treatment at Nyahururu County Referral Hospital.

The mother of two collapsed in her cell at Thomson’s Falls GK Prison, where she had been recently remanded. Ms Kanzee is reported to have become very violent before she suddenly went silent and breathed her last.

She had been remanded at the facility on charges of causing disturbances.

Ms Kanzee’s case represents the suffering of many prisoners with mental illnesses who endure their afflictions in silence behind bars.

According Iregi Mwenja, the CEO of Nakuru-based The Psychiatric Disability Organisation, prisons have a higher concentration of people with mental illness than any other institutions outside psychiatric hospitals and special schools.

Imprisonment takes an emotional toll on women who often have to leave their children behind and are constantly worried about their well-being.

MENTAL BREAKDOWNS

“Usually, women who have been taking care of their families tend to suffer mental breakdown when incarcerated due to depression associated with them feeling like they have abandoned their children at home.

"Most women hardly view prison as a correction facility and the general perception in the society is that a prison is not a place for women,” he said.

He said the condition of most prisons in the country is to blame for some of the cases as it triggers depression in the inmates, especially those who had signs or traces of mental illness before they were sent to prison.

“Usually, mental illness is brought about by a trigger which could be anxiety or stress in dealing with the challenge. These are usually as result of uncertainty about the future once one is put behind bars. Everyone has the potential of getting mental illness, it only needs a trigger,” he added.

According to Mr Mwenja, 64 per cent of women who have been behind bars for 12 months usually develop mental illness.

He noted that inmates are at a higher risk of contracting HIV or Aids and other sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis, tuberculosis, sexual violence, drug abuse and suicide.

“Unresolved psychological problems developed in prison play a direct and indirect role as 43 per cent of those released are usually rearrested within three years,” he said.

One correctional facility in the region, Nakuru GK Prison, has started offering psychological support for inmates, according to the officer in charge, James Sawo.

He said that in some cases, inmates come to the prison with symptoms of psychological problems while others develop them once they start serving their sentences.

He noted that psychological disorders arise in about 15 in 1,000 male inmates and between six and 10 female inmates.

“We have since extended the services to the male inmates where we have some volunteers like churches coming in to help,” said Mr Sawo.

Additional reporting by Steve Njuguna