Originally named "Kamiti Downs", it sits in the middle of its own 490-hectare (1,200-acre) estates which lie fallow and untended.

During the 1980s and early 1990s many political prisoners were held at Kamiti, including Hussein Onyango Obama, Kenneth Matiba, Raila Odinga, Koigi wa Wamwere, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Jonah Anguka[1] and numerous others.

The inmates working in the "industry" section are paid only 10 cents (Kenya shilling) per day, as per the outdated 1940s legislation which rules the organisation.

[citation needed] Within the prison, condemned "G" block is famed for its particularly brutal lifestyle, characterised by predatory sodomy and mobile phone confidence tricksters.

[citation needed] On 17 November 2008, a search was carried out in G block for mobile phones which resulted in a brutal beating by the warders being captured on mobile phone video and given to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), and shown on Kenyan TV.