Coronavirus: FG committed to further decongest prisons ― Malami

Against the background of the prevailing coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Government has taken bold steps to further decongest the nation’s correctional service formations.

Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) said, in a statement, that President Muhamadu Buhari has been mindful of the need to decongest prisons with particular regards to the fact that about seventy percent of the inmates of the Nigerian Correctional Service Centres are awaiting trial.

In the statement signed by Dr. Umar Gwandu, the minister’s special assistant on media and public relations, Malami said the President has constituted the Presidential Committee for the decongestion of the Correctional Centers across the country.

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The Committee, comprising of the AGF, chairman of the Committee on Decongestion of Correctional Service Centers; the Chief Justice of the FCT and the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service will, among other things, reconsider what measures could be put in place for decongestion of Correctional Service Centres in view of the present health challenges.

The Committee recommended that Courts, Federal Ministry of Justice, the Correctional Service formations, Governors, Attorney-Generals of States, among others be encouraged to intensify actions to ensure that the Correctional Service formations are not further congested.

The Committee said the President may wish to consider his powers of Prerogative of Mercy in speeding of decongestion, while Governors of States and their CJs be encouraged to visit correctional service formations for the purpose of decongestion.

The Committee, the statement said, is of the view that the Federal Executive Council and the State Governments should be encouraged to consider payment of fines in respect of minor offenses for those categories of inmates that could not afford paying of same in respect of offenses that attract fines arising from the convictions.

Part of the resolutions were also that Correctional Service should consider the possibility of moving inmates from congested Correctional Service Formations to centres that are less congested and have space for the accommodation of inmates, among others.

By way of long term measures, the committee called for possible amendment of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to move the Correctional Service formations from Exclusive to Concurrent Legislative List among others.

The categories of inmates that will be considered most are those that stayed in Correctional Service Centres for a period above ten years, those that stayed as inmates for a longer period without any documentation relating to their detention, those that have the option of fine, those that have been in the Centers on holding charges in respect of offenses that the Magistrate that sent them to Correctional Service Formations do not have the jurisdiction to try the cases, among others, but excluding those inmates serving jail terms for capital offenses such as murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape and treason among others.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE