FG Laments Rot In Prisons …Says They Convert Humans To Animals

Despite its modest efforts at restoring the lost primacy of the Nigerian Prisons Service, the Federal Government has lamented the rot in in the system, saying it will take years of sustained and continued interventions by all stakeholders to reverse the trend.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo stated this yesterday  in Abuja during the official presentation of the Nigerian Prisons Survey Reports, a research work undertaken by Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action PRAWA in conjunction with the Nigerian Prisons Service.
Minister of Interior, Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd), who represented the vice president at the event specifically said any human being who goes into Nigerian Prisons would most certainly come out an animal.
“I visited the Port Harcourt prisons yesterday (Wednesday). While I was waiting for my flight, I chose to go to the prison. What I saw is a reflection of quite a lot of things in the survey. The Port Harcourt prison was built in 1918, meaning it will be 100 years old this year. For a very long time, our prisons had been neglected because that prison, when it was built in 1918 was meant to contain about 800 inmates but today, it is containing over 5, 000 and I find that very disturbing. There was no room for prisoners and anybody who goes into that place as a human being is coming out as an animal”, he lamented.
While he hailed PRAWA for the survey which he said would avail government of reliable data on which to predicate its plans for prison reforms, Dambazau said, “most of the inmates in the various prisons come from within the states, so there is every reason for state governors to support the federal government in administering the prisons service. They have to domesticate the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA.
“If I have to say all that I saw at the Port Harcourt prison, the media would feast on it. But, to say the least, it is very disturbing and we must do something about the prisons”. The minister was quick to however state that a lot has recently been done for the prisons but because the sector had been neglected for such a long time, it would require continued and sustained interventions to completely turn around the fortunes of the prisons service.
“The major issue we are facing now is the population of those awaiting trial; pre-trial detention. Of the about 5, 000 inmates I saw in Port Harcourt prisons, over 3,700 were those awaiting trial and I spoke with few of them as I was moving and I found that very many of them have been in prisons for five years upward without going to court and I tried to find out some of the reasons and I think in order to deal with this issue, there is the need for the Departments of Public Prosecution DPP in the states to look at how the processes or what kinds of procedures should be adopted in prosecuting criminal cases in this country”, he said.