It is no longer news that our correctional centers are
in deplorable conditions. In reality, they function as punitive prisons
rather than correctional centers—serving as places of torment,
dehumanization, and corruption. The firsthand experiences of former
inmates and prison inspectors prove that our so-called correctional centers have become hell on earth.
Our
prisons are severely dilapidated, overpopulated, and plagued by poor
feeding regimes and disease outbreaks. Prolonged awaiting-trial cases
have led to extreme overcrowding, the rapid spread of infections like
tuberculosis, a high population of sick inmates, and an alarmingly
regular occurrence of inmate deaths. This health crisis exposes inmates
to grievous danger and, by extension, compromises the safety of
correctional officers, their families, host communities, and society at
large. Our prisons have become breeding grounds for infectious diseases
that will inevitably find their way back into the larger populace.
Inmates
are subjected to unimaginably hostile conditions. The quality of prison
feeding is a crime against humanity. Inmates sleep on bare floors,
packed tightly together like slaves in the cargo hold of an underground
slave ship. In overcrowded cells—particularly the category known as
"sabo"—prisoners are forced to sleep on top of one another. Virtually
every inmate suffers from one ailment or another, making the spread of
illnesses a daily reality. The prevalence of tuberculosis in these
facilities directly confirms our outcry.
One
wonders if external bodies ever inspect these facilities. Anyone who
has visited our prisons as an inspector, guest, or former inmate, and
fails to expose this rot, lacks a conscience.
Furthermore, many citizens are detained on frivolous charges or simply because they cannot meet stringent bail conditions.
In
Nigerian prisons, it is common to find individuals awaiting trial for
ten to fifteen years. A justice system that keeps citizens awaiting trial locked up in hazardous conditions for over a decade is oppressive and
indicts our entire judiciary. What is being done to these inmates is
unjust and constitutes a crime against humanity. Today, a prison
sentence in Nigeria is effectively a death sentence. Human beings should
not be treated this way; a prison term should not be a double
punishment. Surviving a Nigerian prison requires either a miracle or
sheer luck. Given these horrific conditions, sentencing anyone to prison
is a miscarriage of justice.
Our
legal system and judiciary must be called to question. No just legal
system should tolerate these hellish conditions. One wonders if judges,
Chief Judges, and members of the judicial community ever visit these
prisons. If they did, we are certain they would decry these conditions
and hesitate to sentence anyone to these facilities. Prison terms in
Nigeria focus entirely on punishment rather than rehabilitation. This is
a national embarrassment, especially when compared to prison management
in civilized countries. The Nigerian government owes a profound apology
to all current and former inmates.
To this end, the Federal Workers Forum calls for:
Justice and Reparations: We demand justice and compensation for abused inmates.
Immediate De congestion: We call for a general amnesty to de congest overcrowded prisons.
Prerogative
of Mercy: Inmates awaiting trial for over five years should be granted
immediate pardons. They have already served prison time without being
found guilty or convicted.
Abolition of Capital Punishment: All death sentences should be commuted to life imprisonment.
Speedy
Trials: No awaiting-trial inmate should spend more than one year in
custody without their trial being concluded. There must be a strict
statutory time limit for every trial to prevent a miscarriage of
justice.
Welfare of Correctional Officers and Paramilitary Staff.
Our
attention has also been drawn to the poor welfare conditions of
correctional officers. Aside from receiving meager remuneration, major
allowances due to them are withheld. More painfully, officers are
compelled to use their personal funds from their small salaries to
purchase their own uniforms, desert boots, official belts, rank badges,
and other kit items. It is unacceptable that federal workers are forced
to self-fund four different uniforms a week out of their meager pay.
This practice we were made to understand persist amongst the
paramilitary outfits under the Federal Ministry of Interior.
Furthermore,
credible information indicates that correctional officers writing the
current promotion interviews were forced to contribute ₦10,000 each for
the "welfare" of their examiners. Similarly, officers of the Federal
Fire Service are allegedly being extorted to the tune of ₦25,000 each to
sit for promotion examinations.
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