Since the breach of security at Kuje Maximum Prison in July 2022, prison security and administration in the country have been the subject of heated debate and criticism in a variety of public forums.
The difficulties of dilapidated jail infrastructure, congestion, a large number of awaiting trial inmates, poor inmate care and treatment, and other associated issues have also remained sources of concern in the country’s prison administration.
This has resulted in increased activism for the safety of inmates and the development of the country’s incarceration institutions.
In response, the Federal Government has implemented comprehensive prison reforms, including the modernization of detention facilities, to assure the reformation and rehabilitation of offenders.
Despite this, stakeholders stated that the system needed to be drastically overhauled in order to enshrine efficient protection of custodial centers, prevent jail breakouts, and assure the speedy arrest of all escaped prison convicts.
The Kuje jailbreak in July exemplified the country’s shoddy management of detention facilities.
This is due to the fact that, despite the large number of terrorists detained in the facility and intelligence reports of an expected attack, nothing was done to fortify the facility.
The authorities acknowledged that among the 879 convicts that fled were 64 Boko Haram militants housed at the facility. Since 2015, Kuje is the ninth successful jailbreak.
However, Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, has guaranteed that the government has made steps to improve the security of detention facilities in order to combat all threats from within and beyond.https://accounts.google.com/b/0/AddMailService
He went on to say that the government would beef up preparations by establishing military bases, police stations, and other armed forces stations around all detention institutions.
Aregbesola directed officers of the Nigeria Correctional Service to “shoot to kill” anyone attempting to attack any of the facilities, and proclaimed custodial facilities to be danger zones.
“Those who will be in maximum and medium-security facilities must be tough. We’ve had far too many humiliating attacks, and we need to put a stop to it.
“We will not tolerate any attempt to breach our facility. Shoot to kill rather than harm. “Shoot to kill, not to disable,” he instructed.
The minister emphasized that detention centers are the “complete manifestation of the authority of the Nigerian state to ensure the security of the people,” and as such, they must be protected at all costs.
To improve the security of detention facilities, the government has established a command and control room for real-time surveillance of selected detention facilities across the country.
“Inmates’ rights can be violated without violating their monitoring. “Jailbreaks and riots can be averted or put down with this,” Aregbesola stated.
To address the problem of overcrowding in the country’s numerous detention centers, the government is also establishing contemporary prison villages with a total capacity of 9,000 convicts.
The facilities are being built in Karshi, FCT, Janguza, Kano, and Bori, Rivers.
“Our administration on assumption of duty determined to have special facilities which six of such facilities were recommended at the beginning.
“What is unusual about the facilities we are talking about is, we now have giant facilities, I call it custodial village facility, since each of the six will have capacity for 3,000 convicts.
“This is nearly unheard of in Africa, if not the world. Within my little understanding of the African continent, no nation, not even South Africa, possesses such a facility.
“Three are nearly finished, one is virtually finished; it is the one at Janguza in Kano,” he said.
According to Aregbesola, the facility in Karshi, FCT, is 75% complete, while the one in Bori, Rivers, is roughly 55% complete.
“It implies the country will now have correctional communities capable of housing 9,000 inmates, each with a capacity of 3000,” he added.
According to the minister, three other massive custodial centers in Ilesha, Umuahia, and one in the Northeast are in various phases of construction.
“Ilesha is resolved, and the place is set; Umuahia is going to begin, but we need financial assistance to finish the first three,” he stated.
Mr Haliru Nababa, Controller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), stated that there has been exceptional development in jail management in the country.
“The service has seen considerable rise in budgetary allocation over the last few years, enabling notable interventions, improvement and historic successes.
“All of these projects are critical to the implementation of NCoS fundamental mandates. As a result, there is no doubt that the service will make substantial progress in terms of service delivery,” the controller general stated.
Nababa stated that the service will not rest until it can compete with its counterparts around the world.
Joel Omoyeni, an Abuja-based human rights lawyer, has called on the federal and state governments to decongest correctional facilities in order to minimize the likelihood of jail breakouts.
“What should be done now is to decongest the prison,” Omoyeni added. We believe that preventing a problem solves it before it occurs.
“For instance, for somebody who has spent five years awaiting trial for stealing generator, how do you reconcile that?
“Another politician gets released from prison after three months, either because there was no conviction or there was no case to sustain. These are the results of a plea bargain.
“The young man who is in prison for five years because he steals a generator is so enraged that he could do anything, even in custody. That is why the term “jailbreak” is used.
“There will be no need to panic if a man goes into prison awaiting trial and his case is determined, either convicted or released, within the next three months.”
