Juliana Francis
On July 22, members of
the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), popularly known as Shiite, clashed with
the police at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, leading to several
people being killed and many injured.
The Shiite members were
protesting the continual incarceration of their leader, El-Zazakky. Police
eventually arrested 54 of the Shiite members.
These 54 members would
be charged to court and remanded in prison, while a date will be fixed for hearing
and later trial. This may take weeks, sometimes months, if not years. The
number of these suspects will swell the number of prison inmates.
Just as police are
making countless arrests, including raiding of traders, so also is the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), arresting hundreds of suspected
fraudsters. Most are remanded in prison custody, giving rise to prison
congestion.
The Nigerian Prisons
Service (NPS) has expressed worry over the increasing numbers of those in
prisons, disclosing that prison congestion was primary cause by many inmates not
having lawyers.
The prisons’
spokesperson, Francis Enobore, in an interview with our reporter, said that almost
all the prisons in Nigeria are experiencing congestion.
His words: “At least,
we have 60,000 on awaiting trial, otherwise known as the pretrial detainees.
There are about 2,700 that are on condemned list. Port Harcourt Prison, which
was built to accommodate 804 inmates, but presently have close to 4,000 inmates.”
Francis, while
commending the Nigerian law enforcement agencies saddled with the
responsibility of arresting criminal elements, said that questions should be
asked on what happens to suspects after arrest, and how fast is the process of
prosecution and how it can get to logical conclusion.
He said: “Our interest
is that when you arrest people, you try them and those that have no business in
prison, you let them go. Let those that should be in prison; be certified by
court of competent jurisdiction, that these people are felons. They don’t have
the capacity to live in a socialize environment. They should be isolated,
trained and resocialise and then introduced them as certified felons. It is
when they are brought to us as certified felons, that we have programmes and
trainings for them in prisons.
“We have psychological
orientation, job therapists, psychological therapy and even games are
introduced to them. There is a limit to which we can expose the inmates in our
facilities. For those on awaiting trials, like violent criminals, armed robbers
and kidnappers, we cannot just bring them out and say that we want to take them
to the workshop.
“Someone that kidnapped
and demanded for a huge sum of money, is that the kind of person, you’ll bring
out and want to teach carpentry? But by the time they are taken to court and
certified them by giving them maybe like life imprisonment, it means they have
given us the right to penetrate and know the causes of their anti-social
behaviours and then we’ll set in motion necessary regime to get them
resocialised. This is the gap in the Criminal Justice System in Nigeria. It
should be arrest first, imprisonment and then rehabilitation.”
According to Enobore,
Kano Central Prison has a capacity for 750 prisoners, but presently locking
2244, and out of those numbers, 1452 are those on awaiting trial. He noted that
Owerri Prison has a capacity for 908 inmates, but now locking 2122 prisoners,
out of that number, 1903 are on awaiting trial.
Enobore said: “Port
Harcourt Prison has a capacity for 804 inmates, but now has 4,122 prisoners,
out of which 3,557 are those on awaiting trial. These pictures are what you
find with prisons in urban central across the country. It may interest you to
know that there are some prisons that are locking far below their capacities. For
example Gusau Prison, which has capacity for 1602 inmates, today, has a population
that is less than 800. Gusau is not too far from Kano.”
He said that most
times, inmates are transferred to other prisons, but in some situations it was
difficult to make such a decision. He cited example of Gusau Prison, normally,
inmates should be transferred there, but such cannot happen because most
inmates in Kano Prison are those awaiting trial.
“They have to be by
law, close to the court that remanded them in prison. The jurisdiction matters.
If you take someone from Kano prison to Gusau, how will it be possible to move
the inmates to and fro? Timing is very important. While thanking members of the
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for their pro-bono services, we want to state
that we still need more assistance from them. In Kano Prison 859 inmates have
no legal representations; while in Port Harcourt 711 inmates have no legal
representation. If their families are not able to procure the usually high cost
of legal fees, the inmates continue to remain in prison,” said Enobore.
He continued: “Nigerian
Prisons Service has no power to tell an inmate that he or she has spent too
long a time in prison that the person should go home. We can’t do that! We have
to follow due process. We just have to keep advocating for free legal services
for these inmates. This is the major way that prison congestion can be reduced.
“The Presidential
Committee on Prisons Reform and Decongestion (PCPRD) is trying. It has been
going around, releasing inmates in different prisons. Another major problem is that
most prison inmates are there for crimes that are not bailable. Even if bail is going to be given, but because
of the heinous crime, the trial judge will impose high bail condition. But I
know that with time, we shall find a way round these problems. Right now, advocacy
is what we are banking on.”
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