Activist calls for restructuring of police cells

A Lagos based human right activist, Mr. Olatunde OladipoVincent, has called on the authorities of Nigeria Police Force to immediately look into the devastating state of the cells in the various police formations in the country. Vincent, who stated this during a chit chat with Daily Newswatch correspondent in Lagos, said the cells where suspects are being kept needed adequate attention as most of them lack the basic facilities to measure up with international standards.  Vincent, who recounted his ordeal while in one of the police cells in Lagos, said the cells lack adequate ventilation which makes the suspects being kept there uncomfortable. According to him, inmates find it difficult to differentiate between day and night and also find it difficult to know the difference between raining and dry season.
His words: “Even if it’s raining, the cell is always hot like an oven. The authourity says it cannot put fan in the cells, but there should at least be windows for ventilation. The cell is another world entirely. You don’t know if it is morning or afternoon or night. All they know is that they call them to come and pray and they pray,” he said. He also added that the police formation should try to provide the suspects with food as most of them are left to starve for days with no food or water. He stated that the suspects only get to eat when they are being visited by friends or relatives who bring food to them whenever they come to pay a visit.  He added that the ones who have no relatives to visit them are left at the mercy of other inmates who share the little food brought to them.
Still recounting his ordeal in one of the prisons, Vincent decried the non-provision of mattress and blankets for the suspects to sleep as most of them sleep on bare floor in the cells. His words: “There was never a time we were less than 80 in a cell. We sleep on bare floor. It’s a terrible situation. They have a toilet where the 80 of you use. And you cannot take your bath except the prison marshal tells you to take your bath. It’s not every day you take your bath, except you pay the marshal.” Vincent said that the number of suspects in a cell is so much because the police put armed robbery suspects, murder, civil cases, among others, together in the same cell. The activist opines that suspects should as a matter of urgency, be kept in separate cells, depending on their crime. “The command office looks so beautiful, but you will never know there is a place there where innocent people, including hardened criminals are locked up together in the cell of about 18 by18.”