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In a bid to check frequent jailbreaks across the country, the Senate has mandated its Committee on Interior to carry out a full-scale investigation into the causes of the incidents. The Senate has also resolved to summon the Minister of Interior, the Attorney General of the Federation, and the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service to determine the status of correctional centres nationwide, their challenges and how to prevent future jailbreaks.
The intervention came on the heels of a recent security breach at the Medium Security Correctional Centre, Jos, Plateau State, in which nine inmates, including an officer were killed, while 252 inmates escaped during the jailbreak. Among the inmates on the run, 63 were serving death sentences, 27 convicted, and 181 awaiting trials.
The Jos episode is one in the series of jailbreaks in the country, lately. Not less than 5,238 inmates had reportedly escaped from various prisons across Nigeria in the last one year. There had been 15 incidents of jailbreaks within the period, with eight of the attacks being successful.
The most audacious of the jailbreaks was the April 4, 2021 incident in which gunmen attacked the Correctional Centre in Owerri, Imo State, and freed 1,844 prisoners. The closest to the Owerri incident was the October 22, 2021 breach on the Abolongo Custodial Centre, Oyo, in which 837 inmates escaped from the facility. In Kogi State, armed men attacked the prison facility in Kabba on September 13, 2021, killing two officials and freeing 240 inmates.
The upsurge in jailbreaks began since last year when Edo State witnessed simultaneous attacks on two of its correctional centres, in the wake of the EndSARS protests in October last year. About 2,000 inmates were said to have been freed by some hoodlums during the attack. Ever since, assaults on prison and police facilities have become regular phenomena.
It is good that the Senate has waded into the matter. The attack on these facilities has also led to the proliferation of arms among non-state actors. It is also directly responsible for escalation of crimes in some parts of the country. In the case of the Edo jailbreak, one of the escaped inmates was said to have quickly killed someone who testified against him. Inadequate security arrangement, low staff morale as well as old and weak structures in the correctional centres account for frequent jailbreaks. Some of the prisons built many years ago are no longer adequate to accommodate many inmates. Most of them are congested, housing more inmates than they were originally built for.
There is need for general overhaul of Nigeria’s prison system, in terms of infrastructure, equipment and management. The criminal justice system in the country should be reformed to hasten the speed of justice delivery. Since justice delayed is justice denied, more judges should be appointed for quicker dispensation of justice.
The number of inmates kept in the correctional centres without trial should be reduced if there is fair and quick dispensation of justice. The welfare of the inmates should be improved to guard against riots that may lead to jailbreaks.
We call on the government to enhance the remuneration of prison officials and ensure that they are properly trained and provided with necessary equipment. Let the National Assembly appropriate more funds to the prison authorities to enable them undertake recruitment of more personnel. The detention facilities should live up to the reputation of correctional centres. They ought to reform the inmates and not make them hardened criminals. In this regard, the nation’s correctional centres need to be reformed and equipped with modern facilities.
Therefore, the resolution by the Senate for reinforcement of physical protection system and mechanism at correctional centres across the nation to forestall further attempts at jail breaks is laudable. Let inmates be equipped with trade skills that will enable them fit into the society upon release from prison. All awaiting trial inmates should not be held a day longer than necessary. A situation where a suspect spends more years on awaiting trial than the number of years he would have spent in prison, upon conviction, is not acceptable.
