Kenyan prisoners sing to freedom

Neighbouring inmates did not suspect anything unusual

Ten prisoners broke free from their cells in central Kenya by singing hymns at the top of their voices to drown out the sound of their escape.

They used a hacksaw to cut through the metal bars of their window in Machakos police station in the early hours.

"These people really disturbed us as they tried to preach the gospel," an inmate awoken by the prayer session told Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper.

Their absence was only noted during the Thursday morning roll call, police say.

Manhunt

The high security prisoners, who were awaiting trial, jumped from the window landing not far from where policemen were sleeping.

A neighbouring inmate did not suspect anything unusual about the praise singing.

"We thought after their prayers they had gone into a slumber," he said.

Kenya's prison conditions

Only one of the fugitives has so far been recaptured in the subsequent manhunt, the newspaper reports.

The prisoners were being held in the police station before their trail because the local jail was full, divisional commander Charles Mathenge told the paper.

On Wednesday, Kenya's Human Rights Commission condemned conditions at Meru jail in the north east of the country, where seven prisoners died in a tiny cell due to the cramped conditions.

Other Meru prisoners are still in hospital suffering from ulcerated wounds caused from standing for long periods of time.

According to a recent report by Amnesty International, hundreds of Kenyans die in prison every year, some as a result of torture and some from infectious diseases caused by overcrowding.