20th November, 2013
The congestion in the Nigerian prison owing to the rising number of detainees awaiting trial has become a major source of concern. The overstretched facilities and the alarming rate at which suspects are being detained in the prison without due trial has posed a serious challenge to the much-talked about prison reforms and also defeated the motive of instituting prisons as rehabilitation centres.
According to the Comptroller-General of Nigerian Prisons, Zakari Ohinoyi Ibrahim, more than 70 per cent of inmates in Nigeria prisons await trial. About 36, 000 inmates out of the 50,000 total inmates are awaiting trial detainees nationwide. Some months ago, about 292 in mates were reported to have been languishing in Kirikiri prison with no case file. The over population has become endemic in prisons all over the country that the rising number of awaiting trials has assumed a geometric progression to the detriment of the facilities and condition of living in prisons across the country. It was reported that the cost of feeding these awaiting trial detainees is about N5.5 billion naira annually. What a waste! Won’t it be better to avoid spending this sum if things are done rightly?
Ideally, prisoners are not supposed to be treated like kings and queens. Though they might have lost their liberties by trespassing against the law, they are also human beings and are not supposed to be denied some basic rights while they are in custody, most especially in cases where some are unlawfully detained or have not proven to be guilty. A visit to any Nigerian prison will attest to the fact the prisons are underfunded and over populated. The poor standard of living of the prison staff, poor hygiene of inmates and the dense number of detainees in a cell. It is not uncommon to find a prison initially created for 500 in mates now occupied by more than 1,000 in mates. Are prisons supposed to be hell or rehabilitation centres? The poor state of the prisons has made many detainees vulnerable to diseases while some have died in the process. Some suspects awaiting trials are made to spend years- some five years in the prison without trial. While some are detained for petty offences, some public officers and influential personalities who have stolen billions enjoy freedom.
To curb a total breakdown of prison infrastructure and the huge sum of money expended on the feeding of detained suspects, there is a need for government to decongest the prison deploying the needed will and the legal framework. The overpopulation constitutes security risk, hence the policy makers should expand the facilities and, if possible, create more prisons across the country. It is pertinent to review cases of awaiting trials to ascertain those who are unlawfully detained and those who are supposed to be the real inmates. Their rights should be guaranteed and enforced.