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Tag: Prisons

  • FG constructing more prisons for law breakers – Aregbesola

    FG constructing more prisons for law breakers – Aregbesola

    The federal government is constructing mega 3,000-capacity custodial villages in the six geo-political zones of the country to cater for prisoners, the Ministry of Interior has disclosed.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, made this known while inaugurating a 20-bed COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund Hospital and Equipment at the Maximum Security Custodial Centre, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

    The minister said that the project would be an enduring legacy and a testimony of the utmost importance the Federal Government had so far taken corrections, the welfare of inmates as well as the staff.

    Aregbesola added that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration had, to a large extent, addressed the problem of inmates contracting diseases in custodial centres.

    “The custodial centres were frighteningly centres for contracting diseases like scabies and tuberculosis, among others.

    “Happily, this has been addressed by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and is now a thing of the past.

    “We not only have well-manned clinics and well stocked pharmacies, the inmates at the custodial centres now have access to excellent medical cares beyond the centres,” he said.

    The minister also decried the enormous challenges of running correctional services with huge demands for infrastructure, equipment and maintaining the welfare of inmates.

    He, however, assured that the Federal Government had provided long term solution to the challenges.

    “This centre in Port Harcourt, with a capacity for 1,800 inmates, presently houses about 3,067 inmates. This is just a reflection of the situation in most urban custodial centres where we have congestion at the moment.

    “The facilities and even the personnel are overstretched, but we are coping and providing long term solutions to this challenge.

    “One of such solutions is the construction of mega 3,000-capacity custodial villages in six geo-political zones of the country. The one for the South-South is in Bori, not far from here in Rivers.

    “The ones for the North-West in Janguza, Kano and the North-Central, in Karshi, Abuja, are ready. Hopefully, we shall inaugurate the one in Kano in a few days, before our departure.

    “Even work is steadily going on in the others and has reached appreciable level.

    “Let me also reiterate that the Federal Government will stop feeding inmates incarcerated for breaching state laws. As you commence your budget process for next year, include feeding of your inmates,” he said..

    Aregbesola said that he had no doubt that the facility would go a long way in addressing the medical concerns of inmates and correctional service personnel.

    The minister commended the management and staff of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) for working hard to keep the virus away.

    He added that the new hospital was an intervention aimed at making robust healthcare for those in custody and the NCoS staff.

    Aregbesola said that the beauty of all the interventions in consonance with other reforms in the NCoS would obviously translate to security, peace and tranquility in and around the centres and ultimately the entire country.

  • Former prisons chief charged with murder of famous journalist

    Former prisons chief charged with murder of famous journalist

    The Philippine Department of Justice said it had indicted the former head of the Bureau of Corrections, Gerald Bantag, for allegedly “organising” the murder of Percival Mabasa, a prominent journalist.

    Mabasa was better known in the country under the pseudonym Percy Lapid.

    Bantag is charged with ordering the assassination of Mabasa after the latter left online comments that appeared to attribute bribery to the Bureau of Corrections head.

    Moreover, Bantag is charged with ordering the assassination of prison inmate Cristito Palana Villamor, whom he allegedly used to give the order for the assassination of Mabasa to a killer.

    “On the part of respondent Bantag, sufficient circumstantial pieces of evidence have been presented to establish that he masterminded the assassination (of Mabasa),” the justice department said on Tuesday, as reported by Philippine newspaper Malaya.

    The authorities specified that ten other suspects in the case would also be charged with the murders of Mabasa and Villamor.

    Those include Bantag’s former deputy, Ricardo Zulueta, and shooter Joel Escorial, who has already admitted to killing the journalist.

    In October 2022, Mabasa, who had long been criticizing the country’s authorities, was shot dead outside his house in the city of Las Pinas.

    Later that month, Villamor, the alleged middleman in the murder of the radio commentator, also died in prison under strange circumstances.

    Shortly after, Bantag was suspended as the chief of the Bureau of Corrections and summoned to a court to give testimony.

    Bantag has denied the allegations of ordering Mabasa and Villamor’s killings.

  • FG to replace prison officers that “cannot shoot to kill”

    FG to replace prison officers that “cannot shoot to kill”

    Rauf Aregbesola, the Minister of Interior, has ordered that the Nigerian Correctional Service should train or replace officers who ‘cannot shoot to kill’.

    Aregbesola gave the directive on Monday, December 5, while unveiling the new service logo and uniforms and the commissioning of new staff quarters, ICT infrastructure and operational vehicles at the Service headquarters.

    The Minister who rewarded twenty-five personnel who displayed gallantry to repel a bandits’ attack on a custodial facility in Niger State at the event, commended them for their act of gallantry. He also expressed dismay that some personnel in other custodial centres chickened out when faced with attacks by criminals.

    Aregbesola stated that the custodial centres are now red zones and personnel should shoot to kill whenever an intruder attempts an attack.

    He said;

    “Riffles are not for play, they’re meant to kill criminals. Any officer that cannot shoot to kill, any lilly-liver officer that cannot shoot on the head should be trained or replaced.

    “Criminals should not sustain injuries. Those people who cannot shoot to kill, if you don’t want to dismiss them, redeploy them to female prisons.

    “People who will be in maximum and medium custodial centres must be tough.

    “We’ve had too many embarrassing attacks and we must put a stop to it.”

    He also said that most of those wrecking havoc in the South-East region of the country are escapees from the custodial centres in Imo State.

    The Minister further added that anyone who tries to attack any custodial centre should pay the supreme price going forward.

  • 3,084 males, 61 females on death row in prisons across Nigeria

    3,084 males, 61 females on death row in prisons across Nigeria

    No fewer than 3,145 inmates are on death row in custodial centres across Nigeria.

    TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports spokesman to the Nigerian Correctional Service, Umar Abubakar, in a response to enquiry by newsmen on the numbers of inmates awaiting execution at the various correctional center across the country said there were 3,084 males and 61 females on death row.

    Some lawyers and human rights activists have consistently expressed concerns over the fate of the inmates, as most state governors refuse to sign the death warrant, leading to the rising number of inmates on death row.

    Some of them have suggested the conversion of the death sentence to life imprisonment, while some argued that if government wasn’t willing to sign the warrant, capital punishment should be expunged from the constitution as well as other relevant laws

    Meanwhile, despite complaints by several stakeholders, including lawyers and authorities of the NCoS, over the congestion of the facilities, the number of inmates in the custodial centres have continued to rise, fuelling congestion and making management of the centres difficult.

    Figures on the website of the NCoS indicated that as of July 4, there were a total of 74,675 inmates in the country’s correctional centers comprising 52,714 awaiting trial and 21,961 convicted inmates with the number of male inmates given as 73,139 while female inmates accounts for 1,536

  • Chief Judge releases 33 prisoners in Lagos

    Chief Judge releases 33 prisoners in Lagos

    Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Kazeem Alogba, on Wednesday, freed 33 inmates of three out of thẹ five Custodial Centres of thẹ Nigerian Correctional Services, NCS, in the state.

    Eight of the inmates were released from Ikoyi Custodial Centre, 11 from Maximun and 14 from Medium Custodial centre

    The inmates were pardoned at an open court session presided over by the Chief Judge at the premises of Justice Samuel Ilori Court House, Ogba.

    Justice Alogba noted that the exercise was in line with the efforts by the Federal Government to decongest the prisons as stipulated in Section 6 of the1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, Chapter 40 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2005.

    He said it was also pursuant to powers conferred on him to grant the inmates pardon pursuant to Section 1(1) of the Criminal Justice Release from Custody Special Provision Act.

    Justice Alogba lamented that the prevalence of crimes in the society have been so horrendous for anybody to consider releasing anybody who have not been processed under the law.

    He explained that thẹ criteria used to determine those released were not based on sentiments but “were meticulously followed and scrutinised by the Justice Adenike Coker-led decongestion committee.”

    Members of the committee also include Justices Omobola Okikiolu-Ighile, Yetunde Adesanya, Hakeem Oshodi, Busola Okunuga, Josephine Oyefeso among others.

  • Why I won’t resign my ministerial appointment over incessant attacks on prisons – Aregbesola

    Why I won’t resign my ministerial appointment over incessant attacks on prisons – Aregbesola

    The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, on Wednesday said the incessant attacks on correctional facilities in the country cannot force him to resign.

    He stated this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

    “As to whether it (the jail attacks) calls for my resignation, I still don’t see any need for that because it is not for lack of preparedness that the attacks were successful,” the minister said.

    There have been a series of jailbreaks by gunmen in parts of the country during which many inmates comprising those awaiting trial and those convicted have escaped.

    One of such incidents was the attack by gunmen on the Kabba Medium Custodial Centre in Kogi State on September 12. While two security operatives – a soldier and policeman – died during the attack, over 240 inmates fled the facility.

    A similar incident was reported a month later at the Medium Security Custodial Centre in the Abolongo area of Oyo State.

    Hundreds of inmates awaiting trial escaped from the correctional facility on October 22.

    Despite the attacks on correctional centres and the killing of some security operatives in the process, Aregbesola says he is not under any pressure to resign.

    According to him, the protracted security situation in the country and inadequate dispensation of justice are among the factors responsible for the vulnerability of prison officials in the face of attacks.

    “Even the men in uniform, the hazard of their job could lead to their death,” the minister said. “But none of them wanted to die.

    “We are upping our game and we will not allow any such opportunistic attack and even make it impossible. That is what the state must do.”

    Aregbesola, however, gave an assurance that the Federal Government was making efforts to step up security around the correctional centers.

    He noted that a number of prison officials died defending the custodial centers, and saluted their courage which he said was the highest form of honour for the country.

  • Number of Nigerians languishing illegally in prisons abroad alarming – Reps

    Number of Nigerians languishing illegally in prisons abroad alarming – Reps

    Members of the House of Representatives have raised an alarm over the trend of Nigerians being illegally detained in prisons in foreign lands, and asked the Federal Government to secure their release.

    This follows a motion raised by a lawmaker, Dennis Idahosa, on the need to ascertain the number of Nigerians detained in foreign prisons, during plenary on Thursday in the lower chamber of the National Assembly in Abuja.

    In their resolution, they urged the Federal Government to intervene and secure the release of Nigerians being held illegally in prisons abroad.

    The lawmakers also resolved to mandate the House Committees on Foreign Affairs, Justice and Inter-Parliamentary Relations, to ensure compliance with the resolution reach.

    Before the resolution, they noted that Nigerians were in almost all countries of the world, making exploits in sports, technology, business, education, and politics, and have been ranked as one of the highest educated immigrants in foreign countries.

    They added that due to the large population of the Nigerian diaspora community, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) was established to provide for the engagement and participation of such persons in the development of the country.

    In moving the motion, Idahosa drew the attention of his colleagues to the International Conventions and Treaties which prescribed that anyone charged with a criminal offence was entitled to a fair hearing, within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.

    According to him, the World Bank estimated remittances of around 24.3 billion per year and six per cent of the country’s GDP, thereby making Nigeria one of the highest-ranking countries of the world in remittances inflow.

    “Cognisant that the remittances of Nigerians living abroad have been of significant impact in the development and economic growth of the country;

    “Concerned about reports that many Nigerians are languishing in foreign prisons, some of whom are being illegally detained, while some are exposed to labour exploitation, poor living conditions, discrimination, sex exploitation and other forms of dehumanising treatments;

    “Worried that from a 2019 survey report by the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEPAD), about 16,500 Nigerians who are in prisons outside the country were convicted without legal representation and not knowing why they are in jail,” the lawmaker said.

    He believes the Federal Government needs to employ diplomatic means to assist Nigerians wrongly convicted and being detained in various prisons abroad.

  • Lagos Govt. moves to decongest prisons

    The Lagos State Government is set to bring down the number of inmates awaiting trial in prisons across the State through the implementation of plea bargain aspect of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law.

    Speaking at Ikoyi Prison during a visit to create awareness on the initiative, the State’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, said the huge population of inmates in prisons across the State was of serious concern to the State Government, adding that there was dire need to implement initiatives such as the plea bargain concept to drastically reduce the figures.

    Kazeem, who was represented by the State’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mrs. Titilayo Shitta-Bay, specifically encouraged the inmates who are guilty of alleged offences for which they are facing trial to embrace plea bargain and thereby save time as well as serve lesser punishment.

    According to her, “Plea Bargain will help to reduce the punishment for inmates, save public funds and time, and that is the reason why the State Government is purposely using the initiative to also decongest prisons in the State.”

    Giving details on how the initiative works, Shitta-Bay said an applicant for Plea Bargain has to state the reasons for his eligibility and it would then be considered only on merit and based on the seriousness of the offence for which the applicant is being prosecuted.

    Speaking further, she said: “The lawyers would write their recommendations too and the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice would consider the facts of the matter and circumstances.”

    In his response, the Comptroller in charge of Ikoyi Prison, DCP Tolu Ogunsakin commended the State Government for the proactive approach in decongesting prisons in the State, just as he advised inmates to make use of the wonderful initiative by the Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice through the office of Director of Public Prosecutions.

    Addressing the inmates, Ogunsakin said: “You have always been praying for freedom and Lagos State Government has brought you the opportunity to embrace it and confess to the crime that brought you to Prison instead of wasting your time and energy here”.

    Aside Ikoyi Prison, the team also visited Kirikiri Female Prison, Kirikiri Medium Prison and Kirikiri Maximum Prison.

     

  • Senate summons CG Prisons over imprisonment of under-age

    Senate summons CG Prisons over imprisonment of under-age

    The Senate on Wednesday summoned the Controller-General, Prisons, Mr Ahmed Ja’afaru, to appear before its Committee on Interior, to explain why under-age offenders and infants should be confined with adults in the nation’s prisons.

    The upper chamber also urged various security agencies involved in the arrest and detention of juveniles to ensure that they were not incarcerated beyond 48 hours.

    These resolutions were sequel to a motion on “Illegal Confinement of Under-age Offenders/Infants in the Same Prison with Adult Prisoners” brought by Sen. Victor Umeh (APGA-Anambra) at plenary.

    Umeh noted that he was traumatised by the gory pictures of under-age children languishing in prison as contained on pages 13 to 15 of the Nation Newspaper of Saturday, March 31.

    According to him the report was captioned “Kids Behind Bars: World of Under-age Languishing in Prison”.

    The lawmaker alleged police prosecutors encouraged under-age offenders to inflate their ages during arraignment in courts, assuring them that such practice would lead to their release.

    He expressed concern that the repercussion of keeping infants in prison with their mothers was enormous as it would deny them proper upbringing.

    The lawmaker, therefore, advocated that separating under-age offenders and the innocent infants from regular prisons as prescribed by law, would go a long way in protecting their mental health and development.

    The prayers of the motion were unanimously adopted by the lawmakers after a voice vote by Senate President Bukola Saraki.

  • 1,574 inmates awaiting trial in Anambra Prisons – Official

    1,574 inmates awaiting trial in Anambra Prisons – Official

    No few than 1,574 inmates out of 1,761 prisoners in Anambra are currently awaiting trial for various offences, the state’s Controller of Prisons, Mr Emmanuel Nwakaeze has said.

    Nwakaeze, who gave the figure in an interview with newsmen in Onitsha on Friday, said the inmates spread across four prisons in Aguata, Onitsha, Awka and Nnewi.

    According to him, 48 of the of the awaiting trial inmates are females.

    “The total number of awaiting trial inmates constituted 78 per cent of the total inmates in the state prisons.

    “The Awka Prison houses 374 inmates; Onitsha Prison has 887 inmates; Nnewi 282 and the Aguata Prison has 218 inmates. 65 per cent are citizens of the state,” he said.

    The Controller noted that 30 inmates were currently condemned in the prisons under the command.

    Nwakaeze said congestion was the major challenges of the command as it created room for unhealthy environment that could lead to outbreak of cholera, tuberculosis and other killer diseases.

    He appealed to Gov. Willie Obiano, Non-Governmental Organisations and philanthropists to assist the command with waste disposal tanks and vehicles for the evacuation of wastes.

    The commander also solicited assistance in the area of electricity transformers, vehicles, ambulances and other amenities to improve the welfare of inmates.

    He commended the Controller-General of Prisons, Alhaji Ja’ Afaru Ahmed for improving the welfare of prisoners and promotion of officers.

    “The Controller-General has done a lot to ensure the decongestion of prisons across the country.”

    He also commended the state governor and the Chief Judge of the state for their initiatives to decongest the prisons yearly.