Evans Kebaso is serving 20 years in jail for defilement.
Out of the blue though, after two years in the dungeon, a bug bit him.
So hard was the drive that it forced him to think hard about what he should do to explore his latent potential.
And he did.
"It was not easy but it has come to pass, " he stated.
Today books are his friends.
"It was the best decision I have ever made and not ready to look back," said Kebaso.
On Thursday KNEC returned a 363 marks verdict for him after a year in class to lead a pack of 17.
Two absconded.
Of the 17, ten were male convicts with four scoring more than 300 marks.
During the interview, Kebaso said he is already reformed and sorely yearns for freedom and capital to make real his dreams.
Behind bars though, he struggles with epilepsy.
He however said he should be given the requisite implements to chase his dream away from crime.
At 23, he sets eyes on surgery if the prison loosens the chains off his feet to study high school education.
"They say the sky is the limit and am not ready to stop here yet," he told the Star.
Prison boss prison Oliver Rapando described Kebaso as the symbol of tenacity and hope amid a life often punctuated by a round of chores.
"He has a bright future with great fortunes in store for him," said Rapando.
The Kisii Prisons boss, however, laments the lack of secondary school education at correctional facilities in the country to assist such brains.
"Had they been established they could make good use of bright brains like these who momentarily tilted off from virtue," he stated.
He said all was not lost yet as they are still trying to see if they can locate an institution where he can study for his secondary school education.
At the Kisii Women Prisons, Linet Achieng, says she has counted three years of the 20 allocated to her by the court for murder.
It is here, however, that her interest in books was rekindled.
It takes the indomitable spirit in her to shrug off the emptiness of being away from home to register 241 marks which she did.
At the Women's Prisons, she led a batch of eight candidates.
Among others was 65-year-old Moraa Ariro who scored 158 marks.
Today, Achieng says reading has driven a new sense of purpose into her being.
"I want education to lift me from the life am living currently here in prison. I am optimistic this is not life purposed me to do," she to told the Star.
She too wants to progress to high school but rues the lack of secondary schools in Prison.
"Even getting this far is a struggle in itself having done without enough teachers and many of them volunteer prison staff," she stated.
Achieng also spoke of the insufficiency of learning materials at the Prisons
"There are hardly enough materials, no library, but I thank God I have come this far," said Achieng.
Prison head Magret Waithera some of those sitting for the exams have had to be taught from scratch.
"It is amazing that most make it with a lot of effort despite the few challenges that hamper them," she said.
She implored well-wishers to donate materials to help improve the literacy classes in Prisons.