Time to fortify our prisons

The ease at which hardened criminals have been violating some of Nigeria’s correctional facilities in the last one year is a matter of serious concern to the citizens given its grave security implications and adverse consequences for the nation’s socio-economic and technological development.

 

In fact, according to official statistics, there have been 15 incidents of jailbreaks within that period, out of which eight were successful and at least 5,238 inmates escaped from various prisons across the country, though less than 1000 of the escapees have either returned voluntarily or re-arrested.

 

These statistics by all estimations are clearly very worrisome and unacceptable as those escaped inmates would have joined their peers to unleash fresh violence in the land which perhaps also partly explains why the security challenges confronting Nigeria keeps escalating by the day.

 

Therefore, we call on the Federal Government in collaboration with the states not to leave any stone unturned in fortifying all the correctional facilities nationwide with a view to forestall a recurrence of jailbreaks in the interest of social, economic and technological advancement.

 

In our view, the some of the major factors that have made jail break a recurring decimal which could be classified as internal and external include congestion or over crowding whereby the custodian facilities are holding 18percent above their installed, shortage of personnel and equipment the slow wheel of the criminal justice system, refusal by most governors to sign death warrants for the execution of inmates on death row and dilapidated state of the prisons. Some of them were built by Nigeria’s colonial masters, Britain.

 

Similarly, recent attacks on correctional facilities which ought to be the safest public utility, had been attributed to external actors especially armed groups including Boko Haram and bandits on a mission to release their detained colleagues awaiting prosecution for crimes committed against humanity thereby undermining the nation’s security architecture and instilling fear on the citizens.

 

Security experts and analysts have also, blamed the recurring prison breaks on chronic infrastructural deficit, the prolonged trial of suspects, understaffing, poor remuneration and equipping of personnel, inadequate technology, bribery and corruption, and other institutional challenges bedevilling the correctional centres across the country.

 

Sadly too, since the  October 2020 when hoodlums took advantage of the #EndSARS protest targeted against Police brutality, to attack three Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) facilities in Edo and Ondo states, setting free over 2000 inmates and killing some security agents manning the facilities, Nigeria has continued to witness more incidents of prison breaks.

 

The recent prison break at the Jos Medium Security Custodial Centre on November 28 where 262 inmates escaped is the latest of such jailbreaks and it came just a few weeks after that of Abolongo Custodial Centre in Oyo State where unidentified gunmen freed hundreds of inmates.

 

Just a month earlier,  a similar incident happened at the Kabba Correctional Centre in Kogi State in which two security personnel were killed in the process while hundreds of inmates escaped.Six months earlier, a total of 1,844 prisoners were freed when gunmen suspected to be members of the outlawed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) attacked another correctional facility in Owerri, Imo State.

 

In an apparent move to raise the alarm on the deplorable conditions of most prisons months ago, the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola declared that most custodial centres across the country were majorly congested by inmates awaiting trial, who constitute numerous challenges for correctional services.

 

According to him, 50,992 inmates are awaiting trials while 17, 755 are actual convicts adding that the maximum capacity of the nation’s custodial capacity is 57,278 inmates as against 68,747 inmates presently occupying the prisons.

 

Elaborating, he revealed that, “One main challenge of the correctional service, therefore, is congestion of the custodial facilities. All the national custodial facilities have a maximum capacity of 57,278 inmates. But by the last count earlier in the week, there is a total population of 68,747 inmates, made up of 67,422 males and 1,325 females. We have therefore shot above the capacity by 18 per cent”.

We strongly believe that the time for lamentation should be over while what is urgently required is a sincere collective commitment by the three tiers of government as well as the organized private sector in finding lasting solutions to the myriad of challenges confronting the Correctional services.

 

And considering that the prisons are public facilities for the rehabilitation, reformation and reintegration of convicts into the larger society, it is in our national interest to jointly pull resources for the upgrading of the correctional facilities in order not to defeat the primary objectives for which they were established.

 

Though Correctional Services are within the purview of the Federal Government since it belongs to the Exclusive Legislative list, it is our strong opinion that the states have a vital role to play in making prisons more impenetrable through provisions of new facilities even as we totally welcome the ongoing efforts by the Muhammadu Buhari administration to build modern high-capacity custodian centers with capacity to holding 3000 inmates each.

 

According to Aregbesola, government is building a 3,000 high-capacity custodial centre in each of Karchi, Abuja FCT, Kano, Kano State, and Bori in Rivers State. Each of these high capacity facilities will have courts for the trial of the inmates. The plan is to extend it to the six geo-political zones in the country. The Kano project is nearing completion. When these projects are completed, they will ease congestion considerably and enhance the capacity to manage our facilities for corrections”.

 

It should similarly be emphasized that such new centers should be isolated from urban centers in line with global best practice, adequately protected and equipped with ultra modern facilities for inmates to learn various vocations in order to be more useful to themselves, their families and the larger society upon completion of jail terms.

 

Also, since peace is sine qua non for the nation’s sustainable development as no meaningful growth takes place amidst insecurity while ‘justice delayed is justice denied’, the judiciary is also specifically charged to grant expeditious hearing to all cases involving awaiting trial inmates as part of overall strategy to decongest Correctional facilities, make same more habitable for improved health conditions of inmates, those who no longer have any business in custody should be set free.

 

This, should also complement the presidential pardon and amnesty programme initiated last year, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, by the Federal Government, through the Ministries of Interior and Justice for inmates under which some federal offenders benefited and got reprieves, while the state governments were handed recommendations and guidelines for the release of their own convicts. It is on record that over 5,000 inmates have so far been released under the ongoing programme, which is very commendable.

 

We further advocate increased budgetary allocation for the Correctional services to enable the agency recruit more personnel, acquire additional operational vehicles, equipment and deliver on its mandate as well as provide most of the needed amenities lacking at the centers across the country.

It is our strong opinion that governors across the 36 states who, are constitutionally empowered to sign the death warrants of condemned inmates whose cases have been decided by the Supreme Court do the needful immediately as such convicts, some of whom might have committed heinous crimes like murder and armed robbery, constitute grave security risk to their father land.

 

It is however regrettable that decision of most governors to shirk their statutory responsibility regarding prisoners on death row has kept some of the inmates  waiting endlessly for the hangman for years at public expense.

 

Considering that over 3008 inmates are currently on death row, we believe that a change of attitude by the affected governors will reduce the existing pressure on custodial facilities, while those with a terminal illness or old age should be set free on compassionate ground.

Government should intensify its collaboration with INTERPOL in tracking all escapees since their biometrics had been captured by the appropriate authorities.

 

For a better society