By Ugwuoke Kelvin Abuchi
Assistant Superintendent of Prisons
Maximum Security Prison, Jos
Plateau state
Prisons in Nigeria are bedeviled by severe over-crowding,
nay congestion. A visit to any prison in Nigeria will reveal the poor state of
the penal system in Nigeria. Most prisons are bedeviled by poor infrastructure,
poor staff morale and lack of funding. Due to the obvious collapse of the
criminal justice system in Nigeria, the prisons suffer the brunt of the
inadequacies in the beleaguered system. The prison sector is regarded as the
dumping ground of both the convicted and the awaiting trail inmates. In the
real sense of it, the prison system is designed to house only convicted inmates.
Apart from keeping custody of the legally interned, the prisons are meant to
provide services that tend to improve the lots of offenders. The cardinal
objective of any prison is to keep inmates, reform them, rehabilitate them and
afterwards, reintegrate them into the society so that they can live law abiding
lives after serving their jail terms.
The situation today in Nigeria is the opposite. Prisons are
characterized by congestions. It is common sight to see a cell that is meant
for four inmates housing more than 50 inmates, living under life threatening
situations. The United Nations Minimum Standard Rules for the Treatment of
Offenders (SMR) spelt out the borderline condition in which every prisoner
should be accommodated or incarcerated. You can read the SMR here: http://www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice//UN_Standard_Minimum_Rules. The SMR
has made a speculation for the space allowed a prisoner in the cell. However,
the situation in Nigerian prisons are a clear opposite of what the SMR spells
out.
Nigerian Prisons nationwide have a total capacity of 47,284,
but to the chagrin of this writer, it houses 53,816 inmates. Out of the 53,816
inmates in the Nigerian prisons, only 25% have been convicted, while a whopping
75% are awaiting trail inmates. This is unacceptable. It is appalling to note
that many inmates have spent many years in custody without trial. As a matter
of fact, many inmates have spent more than the number of years they would have
spent if convicted, awaiting trial.
Now, the question is, why these absurdities in our prisons?
The first reason and cause for prison congestion in Nigeria
is the undue delay in criminal trial. The snail speed at which the courts
prosecute criminal trial is unfair. Rather than dispose off these cases, the
courts prolong them even at the point of indefinite. Some of the Magistrates
and Judges are too lackadaisical towards their jobs; they don’t sit on time, due
to personal and family problems. Sometimes, the lackadaisical attitudes of the
court officials prolong criminal trial, thereby violating the provisions which
the criminal code stipulates that one should not be detained unnecessarily without
trial. As an insider of the Nigerian Prison Service, I am aware that the major
cause of prison congestion is the phenomenon of the awaiting trial inmates. The
Nigerian Prisons Service is empowered by law to only keep custody of the
awaiting trial persons, and provide them in courts. It has no powers to
inculcate these awaiting trial persons into the reformation-rehabilitation programmes
which it is mandated by the law to carry out on convicted persons. Since the
awaiting trail persons, according to the law, are innocent until found guilty
by a competent law court, the Nigerian Prison Service is helpless; and these
awaiting trial persons constitute the larger chunk of the population in our
prisons nationwide.
The second reason why prisons are congested is the attitude
of the police. Yes, the police are the main culprits, from my own opinion, of why
the prisons are congested today. Due to the system decay in the Nigerian Police
Force, things have gone sour in the investigation and prosecution of crime. Criminal
justice in Nigeria is now a cash-and-carry thing. It is the fact that only the
paupers and the poorest in the society are found in our prisons. Once you can
buy your way out of the police station, irrespective of the crime committed,
you are sure of freedom. And if you cannot buy your way out in the police
station, the courts are willing to free you as long as minted cash change hands.
Such is the criminal justice system in Nigeria. Most times, the police would
arrest innocent people and detain them. If such people would not bail
themselves by paying money to (or bribing) police officers, they are labeled with
a criminal nomenclature and taken to court. Sometimes, the police and the court
officials would partner together to remand innocent people in prison.
Furthermore, the criminal justice system in Nigeria is too
rigid. This is another reason why our prisons are filled to the brim. The justice
system is not as liberal as those of other progressive countries. Normally,
persons who are accused of committing lesser crimes and misdemeanors such as
wrong driving, fighting and other minor crimes are not supposed to be
imprisoned. Such people can be punished in other ways such as participation in community
service, payment fines and so on. That is not the case in Nigeria. A visit to a
prison in Nigeria will reveal that some people who committed negligible crimes
are incarcerated in prisons. It is high time we repeal our laws as it pertain
the punishment of some classes of crime.
Before I say finally, the cardinal reason why our prisons
are over-crowded is the neglect of the penal sector in Nigeria. The prison
sub-sector in Nigeria has been neglected. Prisons are not funded, nobody
remembers the prison. I am privileged to be a staff of the Nigerian Prisons
Service and I know the perennial neglect that the system faces. The government is
not interested in the system and the general society too. Most prisons in Nigeria
are devoid of infrastructure and working tools for the staff to achieve their
mandate. Apart from one or two prisons in Nigeria (e.g. the Ikot-Ekpene and
Kuje prisons), many prisons in the country are bedeviled with antiquated
structures. Again, staffs are not well taken care of thereby resulting in very
low staff morale, very ill-motivated staff. They are not paid their allowances,
they are not provided with working equipments, they are not just happy. The fact
is that the prison staff’s job is the most difficult among the elements of the
criminal justice system; however, they are the less looked after. In the case
of the police, they are spoon-fed by the different tiers of government without
any improvement in the mandate they are given to achieve; the courts too. However,
the prisons are neglected, yet, they are lampooned anytime there is a
jail-break.
It is my humble opinion that if the government is sincere
enough to put a stop on the problem of prison congestion, it can achieve it. First,
they would have to clear the criminal justice system of the impunities bugging
it down. The police must sit up to their responsibilities and carry-out a
proper investigation into crimes committed. They would also need to fight the
corruption which has become their trademark. The courts should be provided with
the enabling environment to discharge its duties effectively. There is also the
need to repeal our existing laws. Some of our laws are as old as the colonial
days. Too bad! Again the court need to rid itself of corrupt officials who collect
bribes and blackmail justice.
Finally, and most important, the prisons should be taken
care of. This should start with the proper funding of the prison system. Infrastructure
should be provided. Staff should be provided with working tools, and their
allowances and entitlements paid them as at when due. Promotion should be rapid
so as to encourage them to discharge their duties with zeal. The society and
government should appreciate the Nigerian Prison Service. It is not easy to
keep and look after the most feared people in the society. Just imagine what it
would be if the whole prisons in the country discharge their contents into the
society. Your guess is as good as mine.
