By Shakirudeen Bankole
In 2015, a Nigerian Prison Warder was discharged and acquitted of an allegation of murdering an inmate who had died in prison while serving his term. The criminal trial lasted 15 years. During the entire time, the warder was locked up at the Ikoyi Maximum Prison.
The right of presumption of innocence until proven guilty, as dictated by the law, was not considered in this circumstance. This is in total contradiction to section 36 (5) of the 1999 Constitution and Section 6 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
“Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proven guilty,” the constitution states.
The man, regardless, was treated as if he was a criminal.
During his confinement, his wife and children got overwhelmed and became hopeless about his possible second chance at freedom. So, the wife left his home and moved on. The children followed their mother on her new matrimonial journey, according to findings. The man has not received any form of restitution or rehabilitation whatsoever till this moment.
The name of the warder is intentionally withheld because this reporter did not obtain his approval for a press mention.
The experience of this warder is common among inmates currently occupying the over 250 facilities of the Nigerian Correctional Service, scattered across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
Data by the Nigeria Correctional Service, on its website, show that there are 82,985 inmates across the prison facilities in Nigeria today. Total male inmates stand at 80,994, and total female at 1,871. The total of convicted inmates are 26,317; 25,834 males, and 483 females.
Worryingly, 56,540 of the total are either awaiting-trial or undergoing trial (55,160 males, and 1,388 females). This number represents over 70% of the entire population of the inmates and a jaw-dropping 250% increment over the number of convicted inmates supposed to be cooling off in the facilities.
In Lagos State, for instance, there are five prison facilities -Ikoyi Prison (2), Kirikiri Prison, Badagry Prison, and Ikorodu Prison. While the entire facilities were built to the maximum capacity of 4,800 inmates, the current occupants of these facilities are well over 9,000.
In Port Harcourt, one of the correctional centers in the capital city of River State was built for a capacity of 1,900 inmate. As at last year, it was housing 3,065 inmates, with over 30% congestion rate.
At a dialogue meeting organized by Headforth Foundation for Justice in Lagos during the week, stakeholders, including judges, lawmakers, lawyers, police, journalists, civil rights activists converged to re-evaluate the issues.
The parley also dwelt on consolidating on the recent administrative milestone that was attained when the Federal Government finally released its hitherto stranglehold, by removing Prison Management from the exclusive list and enlisted same on the concurrent list, thereby empowering states with the discretional power to handle the warehousing of their criminal offenders.
Dignitaries in attendance at the one-day brainstorming session include, Justice Joy Ugbomoike, the Deputy Chief Registrar (Legal), Lagos High Court; Hon. Adenekan Adeleye, member, Lagos State House of Assembly; Adebusola Olanrewaju, Director, Legislative Drafting Committee, Ministry of Justice, Lagos State; and Rotimi Oladokun, Public Relations Officer, Nigerian Correctional Service, Lagos State Command; CSP Akinwunmi Oke of the Nigerian Police Command, Ikeja Division.
Others were Oluwaseyi Olawumi, Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Division; Oluyemi Orija, Executive Director, Headforth Foundation for Justice; Comrade Kehinde Adegboyega, the Executive Director of Human Rights Journalists Network Nigeria, represented by the Communication and Strategy Lead, Bankole Shakirudeen Adeshina.
Participants noted that the Nigerian correctional centers (prisons) are heavily congested, and that the congestion is creating economic loophole and as well as administrative headache.
A former Interior Minister, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, said last year that a sum of N1million is being expended on each of the 82,985 inmates being kept across the correctional homes in the country.
Presumably, decongesting the prison comes with economic gains, in addition to its compliance to the rule of law. Mathematically, if 55,000 wrongfully held inmates are set free, this would save the country a conservative sum of N55million on annual basis being budgeted for their feeding. It would also help reunite 55,000 families with their incarcerated members, and foster quality parenting.
But the Nigerian government has another plan altogether. It has invested in the construction of Mega Custodian Centers across the six geopolitical zones of the country. Investigation shows that each of these facilities is built to a maximum capacity of 3,000 inmates. The centers are playing relief roles to the already congested ones.
The complexity of the Nigerian criminal justice system is linked directly to the unabated upsurge in number of inmates in the country. From wrongful arrest, to unconstitutional detention, and ultimately to the miscarriage of justice, Nigerian correctional homes continue to play host to mostly innocent people.
“The challenge we face in managing inmates are enormous,” Oladokun of the Nigerian Correctional Service, admitted.
For example,” the law states that a suspect who is accused of criminal offence has a maximum of 48 hours to stay in the cell before arraignment is done. But in a situation where the process is not completed on time, the law allows the extension of this stay up to 30 days and maximum of 60 days, subject to court approval.
“After 60 days however, the government supposed to know what exactly to do with a criminal suspect.”
The Nigerian model of administration of justice is quite cumbersome. When a suspect is arrested, for instance, and all exhibits or proofs are collated, the next hurdle is fulfilling the procedural steps of administration of justice.
This includes; filing for the case, securing the service of prosecutors, obtaining trial date from court clerk, commencement of trial, presentation of evidences, cross examination of witnesses, closing of trial, delivery of judgment, and finally to the final stage, the execution of judgment.
Ugbomoike, the Deputy Chief Registrar of the Lagos High Court, on behalf of her constituency, exonerated the judiciary of any wrong doing in the complex and frustrating chain of administration of justice.
Particularly with reference to prison congestion, she argued thus:
“I must say that there is the need to cut some slacks for the Nigerian Judiciary in this case. Apart from presiding over overwhelming number of cases, there is also the dimension of when judgement is being delivered. The suspects’ inability to perfect the condition of freedom is what is exacerbating the challenge of prolonged detention and hence prison congestion.
“It is global best practice and standard that a suspect is made to meet the judgment preconditions before being set free. Often times, this precondition may be provision of sureties and or payment of some fines. If they fail to meet this condition, their continued detention should then not be put on the table of the judges,” she argued.
Orija, a lawyer and Team Lead at Headforth Foundation for Justice, said one of the contributory factors to prison congestion in Nigeria is the disturbing annual upsurge in recidivism.
She said due to inadequate, or in some cases zero rehabilitation and reintegration plans, ex-convicts are inadvertently lured back into crime and ultimately end up returning to life in confinement.
“Our data has shown that out of every 10 prisoner that is being released, one of them will find their way back to the prison in less than six months thereafter. This is the result of a careful research we have carried out about the prison congestion trajectory in Nigeria,” Orija told this reporter”, she said.
Olawumi, Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja division, pointed an accusing finger at the men of the Nigeria Police, accusing the law enforcement agents of indiscriminate arrest without lawful basis.
The lawyer said he had recently helped secure the bail of a young man who is a relative of his, whose offence for which he was arrested, was playing in front of his compound, in the company of his friends.
“This is totally unacceptable,” Olawumi, fumed at the event. “It is not a crime for young people to stay or sometimes play in the frontage of their homes. No, it is not a crime. Neither is it to dress in a type of way or look in a particular way. It is also not a crime for people to be young.”
Olawumi concluded his remark by saying NBA is holding a meeting with the police, Ikeja Division to discuss the issue among other collaborative efforts aimed at advancing the cause of social justice in the country.
The confrontation continued at the parley, as the representative of the police stood in defense of the law enforcement agency, insisting they only make arrest when necessary.
“It is easier to paint the police in whatever colour. But the truth remains that the Nigeria Police Force remains the corner peace of the country’s national security today. Without the police, the safety at security of the over 214million Nigerians would be at stake.
“Therefore, when we enforce the law, we are simply doing so on the grounds that permit us to do the job. In the case of arrest, the police make arrest, subject to tipoff. And sometimes, after a clear case of criminal intent has been established”.
The highpoint of the dialogue meeting was the announcement of the proposed bill to establish Lagos State Correctional Service by the end of the year.
The announcement was jointly made by Adeleye, a member of the Lagos House of Assembly and Olanrewaju, Director of the Legislative Drafting Committee, Lagos State Ministry of Justice.
Adeleye said the state assembly has been making legislative provisions to leverage the unbundling of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
“I can assure you that the law is going to be ready very soon. And it is going to be an executive bill, sponsored by the state. We are working closely with the Ministry of Justice to ensure the bill is ready. All of you the stakeholders should be ready to oblige our invitation to stakeholders’ roundtable, townhall meeting, and other necessary policy consultations that would precede the passage of the law,” the lawmaker, said.
Olanrewaju said the drafting would be completed in the coming months and Nigerians should expect a fair and equitable correctional service law latest by December 2024..
