A visitor to the premises of the Rivers State judiciary headquarters along Station Road in Port Harcourt will shudder and may instantly take ill because of the stench that oozes out from a section of the compound, precisely around the cell vicinity where accused persons are kept.
Of immense concern is the fact that offices like the probate and accounts departments as well as some magistrate courts are located at the area where this dangerous emission emanates from. Surprisingly, the offices are full of occupants who work there daily at the risk of their health.
I had always interacted with the fetidness each time I visited the judiciary, but I never bothered to enquire into the source of the smell until recently when I repeated my visit and discovered that the stench emanated from the cell rooms where accused persons are temporarily detained.
How can self-acclaimed learned men and women work for their daily bread in such unhealthy environment? Isn’t it demeaning for ‘your worships’ and ‘my lord’ justices to operate in surroundings so bad that even a first-time caller at the place can perceive it and ask questions?
Two factors must be responsible for this embarrassing development at the judiciary. The first one is the deplorable sanitary conditions of the various cells and how the detainees are kept in the cells, either before or after their arraignment in court on each day.
It is reported that the cells are over-crowded most of the time while the detainees are never allowed a modicum of comfort. Worse still, the cell rooms are usually left untidy after the day’s use. It is further alleged that some of the accused persons are denied the use of public convenience, a reason few of them pass excreta on themselves when they are pressed.
Being an institution that ought to protect the rights of citizens, the judiciary authorities in Port Harcourt should know better that refusing detainees the use of public convenience constitutes an abuse of their rights. How can one comprehend the reason why people in that condition are denied response to the call of nature as often as they would?
The second factor is the dysfunctional state of the toilets. Given the kind of stench that oozes from that part of the premises, one is convinced that the cell toilets are unworkable. But if they are, then something doesn’t just add up. And that may be the reason for the stench that causes the environmental nuisance.
Similar thing occurs at police stations where suspects are detained without water and a means to ensure good sanitary conditions of their cell rooms. This often results in strange predicament for the suspects who fall ill and even die sometimes.
Most detention centres at police stations are known to be slaughter houses because of their deplorable and dehumanising conditions. That is why it is commonly said that the best way to locate a cell at a Nigerian police station is by determining the direction the strongest foul smell emerges. It is as bad as that.
If the police have earned notoriety for keeping suspects at detention centres with poor facilities, will the judiciary, known as the last hope of the ‘commonest’ man, follow suit? Will it act in the same way as the police? The judiciary, being a sacrosanct institution, ought to confer hope on the commoner and not abuse their rights.
That is the reason authorities of the main judiciary complex in Port Harcourt must be conscious of their work environment. They must be sensitive to the conditions accused persons in their custody are kept. If the bad smell from the cell toilets persists, detainees and those who work there or do businesses might become victims of an impending outbreak of epidemic.
As the third arm of government, the judiciary in the state capital must be exemplary. It must therefore operate detention facilities in accordance with best practices and be a model to security agencies that are known for outright violations in this regard.
It  follows that both the state Chief Judge and the Chief Registrar, whose offices are located in the premises, must act to stem this ugly trend. The cell toilets have to be properly examined and be made functional with water freely in use. The inappropriate conditions of the toilets are a dent on the image of the Port Harcourt judiciary.  This should be of great concern to the duo.
Also, it won’t be a bad idea if prison officials at the court premises quickly return accused persons to the prison after their day in court. This can be done in groups of ten or less. In this way, pressure on the toilet facilities in the cells will ease since only fewer detainees will use them at any given time.

Arnold Alalibo