Questions After British Woman Escapes from Jail in Kenya

Police in Mtwapa, Kilifi County are investigating an incident where a British woman escaped from prison last week.

Joanne Goodman had been held at Mtwapa Remand Prison for four months and sneaked out of the facility on July 24th.

She was arrested for being in the country illegally and was detained in the facility as international flights had been suspended at the time of her arrest due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Joanne was found guilty of being in the country illegally with the court ordering the Immigration Department to deport her. 

Initial investigations have revealed that she befriended guards at the remand prison and would get preferential treatment including being let out of her cell to go and do laundry.

On the fateful day, she is said to have asked a warden to escort her to the hanging lines to pick her clothes but she never returned to the cell. The warden cannot explain how this happened.

“The officer could not explain how she sneaked and disappeared from the station,” a police report reads in part.