Rising number of awaiting trial inmates

The rising number of awaiting trial inmates in the nation’s custodial centres is deplorable and must be urgently addressed by the government. Apart from being a drain on resources and facilities at the correctional centres, the increasing population of awaiting trail inmates will lead to prison congestion. Over the years, all efforts to decongest our prisons have not really worked due to lack of political will and policy inconsistency or both. Due to these inadequacies, our prisons have really not done much in rehabilitation and reformation of prisoners. Some inmates have come out of prison more hardened than before.

It is unfortunate that some of the correctional facilities do not have the structural capacity to correct or reform inmates. Sadly, the number of persons awaiting trial is greater than the number of people already convicted. Recently, the Controller-General of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), Sylvester Nwakuche, put the number of inmates awaiting trial at 64 per cent. According to Nwakuche, “the total inmate population stood at 80,818 as at February 9, 2026. Out of this figure, 51,955 are awaiting trial inmates, 24,913 are convicted inmates, while 3,850 fall under other detention categories.”

The NCoS boss stated this while presenting the agency’s 2025 budget performance and 2026 estimates before the House of Representatives Committee on Reformatory Institutions in Abuja recently. Given the high number of persons on the awaiting trial list, the prisons are inevitably overcrowded with poor hygienic conditions, which result in frequent health crisis leading to avoidable deaths in our custodial centres. Also, the high number of inmates strains the facilities of the correctional services.

There are also reported cases of poor feeding and jailbreaks. A visit to a typical Nigerian prison will reveal the inhuman conditions that inmates are subjected to. Many times, some of these inmates don’t get any justice, and they continue to languish in jail. At times, they do not have legal representatives, families or relations to appear on their behalf or speak for them. This inhuman condition of awaiting trial inmates is indeed heart-wrenching and demands urgent attention.

Prisons across the world are meant to reform people and make them better citizens before they are reintegrated into society. Prisons are not meant to dehumanize people or degrade their humanity. In Nigeria, it seems that the correctional facilities are meant to ensure that convicts or those awaiting trial are completely vanquished with no prospects of social integration. The reasons for the poor conditions of Nigerian prisons are many. One of them is the slow dispensation of justice.

If justice is dispensed quickly and on time, many people on the awaiting trial list would be released. This is because reports have shown that many people on the awaiting trial list are innocent of the charges for which they were arrested and detained. But because these people are poor and do not have anyone to stand or speak for them, they are held and detained for long periods without trial. Justice delayed is justice denied, so says a popular maxim.

Therefore, the relevant authorities should ensure that those on the awaiting trial list receive urgent attention so that the correctional facilities can be decongested. In this regard, the police should do more in prosecuting awaiting trial inmates. The courts should also not allow these cases to drag unduly due to frequent and at times frivolous adjournments. It is not enough to arrest people, they should be timely prosecuted. They should not be allowed to remain as awaiting trial inmates perpetually.

Having so many inmates in our correctional facilities poses a huge burden to the custodial system. It is unhealthy for both the custodial facilities and the inmates. Also, the personnel working in Nigerian prisons need better conditions of service, promotion and improved staff welfare. According to the Controller-General, the NCoS needs N38 billion to clear promotion arrears of personnel. Let the money be approved and released timely. If the personnel working in the correctional facilities are not adequately remunerated, it will ultimately lead to low morale and inefficiency in the system.

No doubt, Nigerian prisons require urgent attention to reposition them for proper reforms. Also, contractors working for correctional facilities are owed and must be paid without further delay. According to the Controller-General, the Nigerian prisons need about N25 billion to pay off local contractors. The concerned authorities should immediately approve the funds needed to pay these contractors. The funding of Nigerian prisons should be increased, given the increasing cost of maintaining the huge prison population.

Nigeria should borrow a leaf from advanced countries on how to manage modern prison facilities and make them viable reform institutions. The situation in most Nigerian prisons is nothing to write home about. Prisons should provide facilities for the training of inmates so that they can learn one vocation or another. In developed countries, some prisoners learn one trade or the other while serving their terms.

Some acquire university education there, while some become reformed and turn out to be responsible members of society upon the completion of their terms. The federal government should ensure the welfare of all prison inmates, including those awaiting trial. The health of the inmates must be prioritized. The issue of preferential treatment in prisons should also be addressed. Let the correctional centres be so in name and in reality.