More than 2,745 inmates are on death row in Custodian Centres across the country, the Nigerian Correctional Service has said.
The Service has also disclosed that not less than 52,000 inmates are awaiting trial out of the about 76, 000 inmates in Custodian Centres in Nigeria.
Public Relations Officer of Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Mr Francis Enobore, made the disclosures on Wednesday during a media parley and facility tour of Dukpa Farm Centre, Gwagwalada, Abuja. The Service has about 17 farm centres spread across the country.
He said: “On those on death row, we have crisis on our hands when it comes to that. Currently, we have 2,745 condemned persons in our facilities across the country.
“Of course you know that this category of inmates are very difficult to maintain or control. They are afraid of nothing because they know that they are already destined to die.”
Enobore, said it was unfortunate that most chief executives were not willing to sign the death warrant for the execution of these condemned inmates who have exhausted their appeals in Supreme Court since such action might generate public outrage, especially now that the country is in a democratic setting.
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He, however, noted that what could be done to address the hostile manner in which this category of inmates behaved was to commute their death sentences to life imprisonment, in which case they could be locked in more spacious facilities.
He noted that the hitherto recurring incidence of jailbreaks, escapes and riots in custodial centres were now things of past, adding that the current administration has attempted to address the age-long infrastructural deficit through construction and rehabilitation of inmates’ cells including the provision of beds and beddings to enhance humane custody.
According to him, in order to improve access to justice for pre-trial detainees, a total of 382 operational vehicles have been procured and distributed between 2016 and 2018, saying with this development, inmates are now taken to court for hearing as and when due.
He said: “From a Service that was grossly constrained to perform its basic mandate of safe and secure custody of of inmates and producing awaiting trial persons in court, we are gradually transiting to a place of behavioural reorientation and retooling of persons for better life”.
While restating the irreversible commitment of the Controller General of Nigerian Correctional Service to the safety and welfare of inmates, Enobore, extended his condolences to the families of the five inmates who lost their lives in the unfortunate electrical incident in Ikoyi Custodian Centre, Lagos.
He noted that the reassessment of utility services in all the facilities nationwide is currently ongoing in order to device possible ways of coping with the phenomenal overcrowding in the system and avoid reoccurrence.