Mr Joseph ‘Jowie’ Irungu has been slapped with a death sentence for his role in the gruesome murder of the late businesswoman Monica Kimani. The sentencing comes a week after Lady Justice Grace Nzioka deferred the sentencing from March 8 to March 13.

The Court ruled that the prosecution had presented sufficient beyond reasonable doubt evidence to establish that Jowie was involved in Ms Kimani’s murder in September 2018

Having being initially detained at Kamiti Men’s Maximum Prison for two years without bail, he will finally know his imprisonment terms, bringing to an end a case that took about five years to reach conclusion.

As he prepares to enter long term prison life, these are  some of the Rights and Freedoms as espoused in the Constitution of Kenya that he will retain behind prison walls.

According to Chapter 4- The Bill of Rights, Part 2 on Rights and fundamental freedoms, a person who is detained, held in custody or imprisoned under the law retains all the rights and fundamental freedoms in the Bill of Rights, except to the extent that any particular right or a fundamental freedom is clearly incompatible with the fact that the person is detained, held in custody or imprisoned.

To this end, Jowie will retain the:

• Right to life except to the extent authorized by the Constitution or other written law, equality
• Equality and freedom from discrimination
• Human dignity- to be respected and protected
• Freedom and security of the person- not subjected to any torture, violence or being treated in a cruel, inhuman and degrading manner
• Freedom from being held in slavery or servitude
• Freedom of conscience, religion, belief and opinion
• Freedom of expression
• Right to access to information
• Freedom of association with groups and participate in activities within the prison walls
• Right to a clean and healthy environment
• Right to the highest attainable standard of health including the right to health care services
• Rights to be free from hunger and to have adequate food of acceptable quality and to have clean and safe water in adequate quantities
• Right to use the language of their culture or their personal choice
• Right to administrative action that is expeditious, efficient, lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair
• Right to access to justice

The right to fair hearing in the event a dispute arises behind prison walls and can be resolved by the application of law decided in a fair and public hearing before a court or another independent and impartial tribunal or body.