The Enugu Maximum Security Prison, built in 1915 for 638 inmates, now houses 1,800 inmates, the Controller, Mr Alloy Uchenwa, has said
Uchenwa made this known when Enugu State Chief Judge, Innocent Umezulike, visited the prison on a decongestion mission on Monday.
“Due to this problem, the under-aged inmates are kept with much older and hardened criminals”, Uchenwa added.
He said the chief judge’s mission would contribute to decongesting the three prisons in Enugu, Oji-River and Nsukka.
The controller called on government, NGOs, FBOs, CSOs and well-meaning Nigerians, to re-activate the Institution for Juveniles at Hill-top, Ngwo.
Earlier, Umezuluike explained that the annual exercise was aimed at ensuring that criminal cases were not over delayed and to release cases not qualified to be in court.
“Our mission is to ensure that those who have overstayed are released and we shall try our best to meet the demand”, he said.
He said that similar exercise would be carried out in Nsukka and Oji-River prisons and urged lawyers to ensure that it was orderly, smooth and peaceful.
One Sunday Ezulue who regained his freedom said he was convicted for killing his brother accidentally.
He expressed joy over his release after spending five years awaiting trial. (NAN)
Tag: inmates
-
1,800 inmates in 638 capacity prison, says Controller
-
Inmates surprised to see ex-minister in prison
Inmates at the Kuje prison are in shock that the former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro is now one of them.
Many of them were excited and curious to know what led to his detention.
According to a source, the inmates were amazed to see Moro in prison custody barely one year after he visited the facility as the interior minister.
Justice Anwuli Chikere of the Federal High Court, Abuja on Monday remanded the former minister in prison custody over his alleged complicity in a N676million job scam.
A source said the former minister was brought to the prison around 12 pm on Monday and made to undergo the standard procedures for inmates.
The Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), Public Relations Officer (PRO), Francis Enobore, said an inmate was free to feed himself, adding that it is standard practice to allow inmates to provide their food themselves.
-
Senate frowns at N200 feeding allowance for inmates
The Senate yesterday described as inhuman and unacceptable the practice of feeding inmates with N200 per day.
The upper chamber said that its findings showed that N130 is actually spent to feed each inmate per day.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Interior, Senator Usman Bayero Nafada, stated this at a budget defence session with the Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazau, in Abuja.
The Nation reported on Monday about emerging uneasiness in the Nigeria Prisons Service over the shortfall in ration vote in the 2016 budget proposal.
Officials of Interior Ministry, the Nigeria Prisons Service and ration contractors were said to have expressed concern about the shortfall.
Nafada said that his committee will take up the issue of feeding of inmates with relevant authorities to ensure that the right thing was done.
He said, “N200 per inmate per day is unacceptable. If you look at it you are actually feeding each inmate with N130 per day.
“When you remove Value Added Tax, contractors’ profit and other corporate services, the N200 comes to about N130 to feed one inmate in a day.
“It is inhuman to feed a human being with N130 in day. What can anybody use N130 to buy? With N130 no inmate can come out of the prison better.”
He insisted that feeding of inmates is one area the committee wanted the ministry to introduce a major improvement saying ‘we want the inmate to come out better than they went in.”
He said that the committee is happy that the Federal Government is considering increasing the feeding allowance to N450 per day.
He noted that though the N450 is still not enough, it is good enough to begin with.
Danbazau told the committee that the ministry is considering for the long run the revival of farm centre like fish pond, poultry and others which he said would help to feed the inmates.
The committee also queried the projection of N215 billion as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for 2016 when the ministry generated N1.1726 billion in 2015.
On personnel cost, with the vote of N3,678, 178,610, the committee wanted to know whether the ministry wanted to employ new staff since it got N1,009,562, 803 in 2015.
The committee wanted to know what the ministry wanted to do with a variation between 2016-2015 of N2,668,615,707.
On accommodation of Civil Defence operatives which a member of the committee, Senator Obinna Ogba, drew the attention of the minister to, Danbazau assured that the ministry would look into it.
Senator Ogba had complained bitterly that where the Civil Defence operatives are quartered in Ebonyi State is not befitting enough.
-
Lagos CJ frees 11 inmates
11 inmates of Ikoyi Prisons, Lagos, have been released by the state Chief Judge, Justice Oluwafunmilayo Atilade, to celebrate the new year with their families.
Justice Atilade granted freedom to 10 awaiting trial inmates on Wednesday, while one was released on Tuesday from prison.
The release of the inmates was in exercise of the powers conferred on the Chief Judge of the state pursuant to the provisions of Section 1(1) of the Criminal Justice Release from Custody Special Provision Act CAP C40, 2007, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.
The chief judge said the gesture was not just aimed at decongesting the prison but also to ensure that deserving inmates are made to breathe fresh air of freedom.
“Though significant, our visit coming at this time of the year is not designed as a coincidence but in exercise of our statutory responsibilities to dispense justice with fairness and to ensure that people are not unduly kept behind bars”, she stressed adding “this among others has been top on my priorities since assumption of office in August, 2014”.
Justice Atilade disclosed that the High Court of Lagos State has introduced a new initiative named “Bail Information Management System (BIMS) to facilitate speedy trials and dispensation of cases and to ensure a drastic reduction in the number of awaiting trials.
She described the new initiative as “a ground breaking innovative stride to improve administration of criminal justice in Lagos state and to minimize delays in the prosecution of persons awaiting trials, particularly those in prison custody”.
Aside guaranteeing ease of access to relevant information as may be required for effective bail management; she said BIMS is also intended to eliminate all known challenges in criminal prosecution.
Atilade admonished the freed inmates to “go and sin no more” and be of good behaviour and make positive impacts in the society.
“In congratulating the beneficiaries of today’s exercise, I must note that they are being given another opportunity to start afresh, more so as it is coming on the eve of a new year.
“I do sincerely hope and pray that those being granted amnesty today will be of good conduct and would do no such thing capable of bringing them back into prison.” She said.
The Chief Judge urged to Office of the Public Defender, the Nigerian Bar Association and Non-Governmental Organisations to assist inmates whose cases are ongoing to ensure speedy dispensation of justice.
The Deputy Controller, Ikoyi Prisons, Mr. Julius Ezugwu, in a welcome address said the facility which had a capacity for 800 inmates currently held 2084 inmates.
He said; “the prison currently holds 2,084 inmates. The numbers of convicted inmates are 210 while those awaiting trial are 1,874.”
Ezugwu noted the very cordial working relationship that currently exists between members of the Criminal Justice System made up of the judiciary, the police and some non-governmental organisations.
“The synergy and collaboration amongst us has translated into the orderly, stable and peaceful community that abounds in this prison,” he said.
-
32 inmates regain freedom in Kontagora
A Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Sani Bello Foundation has secured the release of 32 inmates with civil cases from the Kontagora medium Prisons in Niger State.
The step was taken in a bid to decongest the Kontagora Medium Prisons.
The Director General of the foundation, Mr. Zakari Ikani who was at the prison to check the level of the inmates crimes discovered that some of them with civil cases had no means of meeting with their bail terms.
He then asked for the permission of the Foundation’s Chairman, Colonel Sani Bello (rtd) and got the approval to pay for the bail of 32 inmates.
Speaking to the ex-convicts after their release, Ikani urged them to be law abiding in the society to avoid future reoccurrence.
He said that the foundation would rehabilitate the inmates and train them on various skills to enable them integrate into the society.
The DG further stated that the foundation would continue to ensure that the youths in the state are adequately reoriented to become leaders in their given profession.
The inmates were very happy to regain their freedom and pledged to be of good behavior in order to forestall a reoccurrence.
The Foundation also donated items like grains, beverages, toiletries, blankets, bathing soaps, serving plates to the prisons for the upkeep of the remaining inmates in the prison, 250 uniforms were sewed for the inmates.
-
Nasarawa CJ pardons 18 inmates
The Chief Judge of Nasarawa State, Justice Suleiman Dikko, has granted pardon to 18 inmates of federal prisons in Lafia, Keffi, and Nasarawa, awaiting trial in the state.
The chief judge made this known to newsmen on Saturday at the Keffi Prisons, Keffi Local Government Area of the state, at the end of his four-day tour of prison formations across the state.
Dikko said that five of the inmates were from the Lafia Prison while 12 were from the Keffi Prison.
The remaining one, he said, was from the Nasarawa Prison.
He gave the names of the inmates released from the Lafia Prison as Bulus Irimiya, Dauda Emmanuel, Mohammed Isa, Likita Emmanuel, and Beegah Luhu, with Emmanuel Nyitse released from the Nasarawa Prison.
According to him, those released from the Keffi Prison are: Abibakar Mohammed, Abubakar Ibrahim, Auwal Abdullahi, Abdurahamar Idris, Felix Michael, Danladi Joseph, Peter Ogun, Isha’u Barau, Isreal Stephen, Amos Isaac, Hassan Yakubu, and Aliyu Musa.
The chief judge stated that the routine prison visit is aimed at decongesting the prisons in the state and ensuring the delivery of justice to wrongly detained inmates.
He urged the police, prisons authorities, and other stakeholders to rise up to their responsibilities and partake in sanitising the judicial system towards ensuring the speedy administration of justice in the state.
Dikko also assigned counsels to the inmates awaiting trial and those, who had been remanded in custody for many years but lacked the money to engage the services of counsels.
He advised the pardoned inmates not to engage in acts that could make them return to prison.
Earlier, James Lander, Deputy Controller of Prisons in Charge of Keffi Prison, commended the chief judge for the visit.
James identified inadequate vehicles as one of the challenges confronting the Keffi Prison.
According to him, the prison, which is charged with the responsibility of conveying inmates to 47 courts in five local government areas and the FCT, had only one functional vehicle, which it uses to take inmates to all the courts daily.
He appealed to the state government to provide the prison with potable water and to rehabilitate the road leading to the prison adding that the road was in a very bad condition.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that officials of the National Human Right Commission, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, private lawyers, and judges accompanied the chief judge on the visit.
-
‘70 per cent of inmates awaiting trial’
About 70 per cent of prison inmates are awaiting trial, the Prison Fellowship Nigeria (PFN) Secretary-General Jacob Tsado, has said.
Speaking with reporters during the group’s Family Week/Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Mowe, Ogun State, Tsado called for a review of the criminal justice system.
He said: “Our justice system is tilted against the victim. Justice is done when harmony is restored. We have inmates whose files are lost; they have no lawyers and on the day they are to appear, the Black Maria vehicle refuses to work because either it has no fuel or it is not in good working condition.
“So, the court has to adjourn the case. You can imagine someone who had waited for four months for his case and on that day, the case is adjourned for the above reasons. That is why in Prison Fellowship, we have become the voice for the voiceless.”
The scribe said the Week was aimed at stocking and equipping PFN members spiritually and morally for the tasks ahead.
“The popular saying is: ‘You can’t give what you don’t have.’ To give to prisoners, we need to be imparted by the power of God and to acquire relevant skills and capacities for prison ministries. For people to be engaged in the system, they need to be taught certain things for us to go out and spread the good news to engage people in criminal justice.’’
He noted that PFN is specialised non-governmental organisation (NGO) involved in security, criminal justice and the law.
To tackle the problems of those on the awaiting trial list, Tsado said his group was partnering the Lagos State government on the adoption of the restorative justice system, adding that is signed an memorandum of understanding with the government.
He said the system would promote harmony, peace, development and reintegration of offenders to the society.’’ It is good for communal progress,’’ he added.
The group’s Chair Dorcas Din appealed to the government and individuals to assist body to build its centrein Abuja to train newly released inmates before they are enter the society. She said the group has acquired land for the centre but had not been able to develop it.
She urged the government to rehabilitate the prisons, saying many of them have dilapidated facilities.
PFN’s Executive Director Ben Iwuagwu, a lawyer, urged all political leaders to assist in reforming the prisons. He said the prisons should serve as reformative centres. He said it was wrong to make them punitive, adding that our leaders have a responsibility to the downtrodden, especially those in the prisons in this regard.
-
Lawmaker cheers up inmates, needy kids
A member of the House of Representatives, Ossy Prestige, has lifted the spirits of prisoners and motherless babies, reports SUNNY NWANKWO
A member of the House of Representatives Hon Ossy Prestige (Aba North and South) has given the restricted and the needy what they probably need most: love and care.
He visited the Joy-Rita Motherless Babies Home along Aba-Owerri road, Abayi, Aba as well as the Aba Prisons.
From the prisons he went to Seventh Day Adventist Motherless, then to Father Basil Motherless Babies and then to Nwamaka Maternity and Motherless Babies Home Aba.
The lawmaker and his team spent some time with various inmates and also would not leave any place he visited without donating toiletries, baby diapers, beverages, bags of rice and garri, among others, including cash to support the inmates.
The lawmaker after being received by the Deputy Comptroller of Aba Prisons, DCP Stephen Ugbah was taken round the facility where he inspected their classrooms, skills acquisition workshops; carpentry section, laundry, sewing and barbing saloon rooms.
Prestige who was apparently touched by the plight and infrastructural decay including challenges of accommodation for the inmates and prison officials promised to take up some of the challenges of the corrective home which would be presented on the floor of the House of Representatives as soon as they reconvene for urgent attention to be taken.
The lawmaker who is also a Rotarian on discovering that the many of the inmates were on awaiting trial because they don’t have money to hire lawyers to pursue their cases in various courts said he was going to establish a free legal aids unit in his constituency office in Aba where he would engage the services of qualified lawyers to render free legal support for people who cannot afford fees for such services.
“Aba is a place where law enforcement officers will bribe their ways to come and work and when they arrive, they employ all manner of intimidation and harassment of the people in order to make money. This will stop.
“Already, I have started linking up with Amnesty International to find out ways they will help the people in this direction so that within the next one year, Aba will be a city where no one will be insulted or victimised for no just reason”, Prestige stated.
While presenting the gift items and cash to DCP Ugbah, Prestige said he was making the donation so that the inmates of the place would join other Nigerians in celebrating the country’s 55th Independence anniversary and promised to make his visit to the prisons a yearly exercise until he leaves office as Aba North and South representative.
The politician cum business mogul urging the Aba Prisons inmates to remain prayerful and steadfast, however promise to assist some of the inmates to offset their fines to enable them reunite with members of their families.
In his response, Aba Prisons Deputy Comptroller, Ugbah disclosed that after 1911 when the Aba Prisons was commissioned to harbor and serve as a deformation home for inmates of various criminal offences that apart from Senator Sani Shehu from Kaduna state who was incarcerated at the Prison by then General Sani Abacha’s regime after his freedom, Hon. Prestige was the first politician in the southeast and Abia Lawmaker to visit the corrective center and lamented that if not for the assistance coming from various Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s), Churches and corporate organizations who frequently donates to the Prisons, the place could have been closed down.
Ugbah informed the lawmaker that a primary and secondary school including other vocational workshops were setup within the Prison yard to help in educating and developing the knowledge of the inmates while undergoing rehabilitation process and to also as to equip them with the right skills of becoming useful and law abiding citizens when they would have served out their term and ready to reintegrate back to the society.
He urged the lawmaker to always remember them in his day to day activities at the National Assembly even as he prayed God to guide and protect the lawmaker and challenged other politicians in the state to emulate the gestures of Prestige.
-
78 inmates graduate from Ikoyi Prison
The Lagos chapter of the Prison Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has graduated 78 students of its prisoner’s journey course at the Ikoyi Prison, Lagos.
Coordinator of the course, Femi Famoyide congratulated the students, wishing them a smooth journey in life after their release. He said the programmed was centered on the life of Jesus. On whether they had imbibed the rudiments of the course, the inmates said the lessons learnt from the course have made them new creatures and had certainly changed their world view.
The PFN Chairman, Bola J. Olawepo said: “We rejoice with you because this is the first section. I want you to take those things you have learnt into your life. After the programme, if you live your life the way you were, then it is a waste. Whether in the dormitory or in the church, the course must reflect in the attitude you portray. If you were fighting before and you still go back to fight, that means you have not been transformed.’’
-
Workers, foundation donate to inmates
Members of the staff welfare association of Paterson Zochonis (PZ) at the Aba plant, as well as the Inner Heart Foundation have lifted the spirits of people behind bars in the commercial city.
On a visit to the Aba Prisons, the workers and staff of PZ presented over 50 tubers of yam, a sewing machine, a bag of beans, five bags of rice, two bags of garri, about nine pillows, mosquito nets, bags of salt and sugar, a deep freezer, cartons of bar soap and detergents, cooking oil, about 20 in addition to an undisclosed amount of money.
Last year, in the maiden edition of the outreach, the workers’ welfare union built a four-room toilet for Eziama Community Primary School in Aba North Local Government Area. The workers also gave N390,000 cheque to a staff of the school, Mr. Chika Kalu Sampson for the treatment of his daughter, Chika Kalu for a hole-in-heart surgery.
Though as it was not the custom to allow journalists talk to the inmates, but the smiles and joy expressed by the inmates shows that they would always pray that either the group continues to remember them or that a donation of sort should continue to come their way.
Some of the staff who spoke to our reporter including Mr. Emma Ofordu said that they were extremely happy to have touched the lives of others in need positively.
Mr. Ifeanyichukwu Abadom, the General Manager for PZ Cussons Nigeria, Aba, said, “We are the foremost manufacturers in Nigeria. We have one of the biggest soap plants in Nigeria and what we do is that once every year, we look for a corporate project that we can use to touch the heart of communities around us. Last year, we visited some schools and we made some donations to them. This year, we have decided to come and visit the prisons and also to contribute and handover some of the things which you see around here for the welfare of the prisoners and to ensure that the reformation process goes on smoothly in order to achieve the desired result at the end of the day”.
How they come about the money for the items? Mr. Abadom, said “Every single thing that you see here was purchased from the contribution of the entire staff of the company (PZ Cussons, Aba). So, what we do is that at the beginning of every year, we will come together and make pledges; everybody contributing from his or her salary. We look at it as a humanitarian gesture to assist the less privilege around our community.
“We believe that in helping the community as stakeholders of the community, the overall society can be better. We don’t confine ourselves to our work environment; we also reach out to the community. So, it’s actually from the contributions of the workers from their salaries that all these items were bought. It is not by compulsion, but voluntarily. A lot of donations were made without people even knowing who donated them, we announced those that want their names to be announced and those who donated anonymously were not mentioned.
“What we are doing is not synonymous with the plant here in Aba, it is ongoing in all the branches of the establishment across Nigeria; it is Pan-Nigeria. They equally try to reach out to their local communities. So, this is only an arm.
“By what we have just done, it is a means of encouraging others because if everybody reaches out to assist one another, chances are that there will be drop in crime. There will be assistance and people will be able to get the benefit. We cannot wait on the government to do everything, it is not fair. The government is actually doing their very best to assist and bring things up. However, we as well, we need to assist the government in every little way we can do that; whether it is reaching out to the children or the community or whether it is to build pipe borne water or borehole; in any way we can help the government. At the end of the day, it is still our premises and where we reside and by that, we will as well help the government to get to the level where we want to be”.
On his advice for his colleagues, the Aba Plant manager added “The seed we sow now, we hope to see the benefit in the future. It is not necessarily about monetary benefit. For the very fact that you can wake up in the morning and walk around your environment happily and safe, it’s a big achievement. So, it is not necessarily in terms of monetary reward, we expect the society to be better. Once the society is better, you will reap from directly and indirectly from that society and that’s our prayer”.
The head of the Prison facility DCP (Deputy Comptroller of Prisons), Ugba Stephen who received the items on behalf of the staff and inmates said that the items would go a long way in meeting the needs of the inmates and facility and debunked the notion that items donated to the inmates were being diverted and shared among the staff other than the purpose for which it was meant for.
Mr. Stephen used the opportunity to appeal to other private and corporate organizations in and around the commercial city to emulate the gestures of the PZ staffers which he said would ensure that the daily needs of the inmates were met.
“The items are for the inmates and if it were possible for one of the inmates to come here, you will personally ask them about how I feed them. Any item that is given to them will be distributed to them and they can attest to that. So, that is the principle of my life because if you cheat someone today, God will pay you back in one way or the other. So, the best is to make sure that you give your best to humanity; give your best to the inmates that you are caring for.
“I am impressed with what they brought because we have written a lot of letters for companies to come to our aid. Some have come and those items they brought were used for the purpose that it was meant for. So, this item that you see will be fully given to the inmates.
“All hands are not equal. We will keep appealing to other companies to see how they can come to our aide. People responds at their own pace based on their financial capacity and I strongly believe that they will come to our aide.
“I pray that God replenishes their purse because they are touching the lives of those in needs and God in his wisdom will touch their lives abundantly,” the DCP prayed.