THE recent decision by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, to release 4,068 inmates who have served various terms of imprisonment, or were convicted with an option of fine, should signal the beginning of a definitive programme to finally decongest Nigeria’s correctional centres. The minister should lead the national effort, and involve the federal and state governments and the judiciary to clear the custodial facilities of those who should not be there, and reform the entire system.
Speaking at the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Kuje, Federal Capital Territory, the minister noted that the facilities, which had capacity of about 50,000 persons, currently housed approximately 80,804 inmates, “significantly surpassing their limits and prompting this strategic intervention.” He added, “This release, targeting inmates with fines and/or compensations not exceeding N1 million, extends a lifeline primarily to indigents unable to settle their dues, allowing them a second chance at freedom.”
Data provided by the Nigerian Correctional Service in 2021 showed that the correctional centres combined, have the capacity to hold 50,083 inmates, but they currently hold 70,056 inmates. The World Prison Brief in 2021 also estimated the official capacity of Nigeria’s prison system at 50,153, and the actual population, including pretrial detainees, at 81,134, an occupancy rate of 136.7 per cent.
Many factors contribute to the overpopulation. The police are fond of arbitrary arrests and obtaining custodial orders from unquestioning lower court judges. The snail-paced justice system in Nigeria results in a high number of people awaiting trial, or awaiting judgement. Shortage of judges also stymies the speedy dispensation of justice. About 70 per cent of Nigeria’s total prison population is made up of inmates serving time without being sentenced, according to the NCS.
Similarly, the shoddy investigation of criminal cases by law enforcement agencies results in many innocent persons being locked up in prison custody, and invariably causes criminal cases to be delayed for years.
CSOs also cite the overuse of prison sentences by judges, the difficult bail system, and the reluctance of some magistrates to grant bail to inmates, even for bailable offences.
Despite the change in name from ‘Nigerian Prisons Service’ to Nigerian Correctional Service, overcrowding is an obstacle to achieving the ‘Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners’ adopted by the United Nations in 2015. Most Nigerian prisons were built many decades ago; they have not been modernised or reconstructed to meet the increasing population of detainees. The facilities are therefore too small for the number of offenders.
Consequently, the primary aim of correction facilities to positively reform prisoners has been defeated. Instead, many offenders become hardened criminals in the toxic cells, becoming more enmeshed in crimes and joining brutal gangs during and after their time in prison.
This entire prison system therefore requires holistic reforms geared more towards reforming inmates and turning them away from crime.
There should be devolution of the prison system where states can build and manage prisons as it was in the First Republic. Under strict regulations and oversight, private organisations should be allowed to operate correctional facilities. With various degrees of privatisation, by 2013, 12 countries, including the United States, England, South Africa, Brazil and Chile, allowed the operation of private prisons, according to US National Library of Medicine.
Specialised courts should be expanded and new ones set up to ensure speedy trials and justice delivery. The NCS Act 2019 which empowers state controllers to reject intakes if the facilities under their control are full, and mandates the separation of custodial and non-custodial sentencing, should be fully implemented.
Tunji-Ojo should resolve to make prison decongestion one of his lasting legacies.
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