The Nigeria Prisons Service has attributed the frequent incidents of jailbreaks in the prisons to the long incarceration of inmates without trial.The service said Awaiting Trial Inmates, who constitute 71 per cent of the prison population, were reported to be the ones behind the various cases of riots and attempted jailbreaks recorded in different prison formations in the country in recent times.
The Prisons Public Relations Officer, Francis Enobore, who said this in a telephone interview on Thursday, therefore called for the liberalisation of bail conditions as a strategy to reduce congestion of prisons by awaiting trial inmates, many of whom had been kept in custody for a long time.
Enobore noted that non-custodial sentencing for petty crimes would reduce the huge prison population, which he puts around 57,000 inmates, as well as curb agitations for freedom through jailbreaks.
According to him, investigations into the recent jailbreaks across the country indicated that the riots were instigated by awaiting trial inmates, who grew restive on account of their detention without trial.
When asked why the inmates were not taken to court speedily for trial, Enobore stated that the responsibility of investigating and prosecuting the inmates rest with the police and the court, noting that the role of the NPS was to keep the accused in custody for certain period.
The NPS spokesman explained that the ongoing prison reform programme had strengthened the capacity of the prisons staff, through training and retraining, adding that it had led to infrastructure development and expansion of existing cells and construction of new prison facilities.
Enobore added that the reform had also boosted the partnership between the NPS and other security agencies in order to fortify the security system at prison formations nationwide to prevent riots and jailbreaks.
