Why inmates hate our officers —Prisons authorities

Spokesperson for the Nigerian Prisons Service, Francis Enobore, while responding to the mind-boggling issues raised by the inmates, called the inmates angry liars who would never speak well of the authorities as long as they have not regained their freedom.

Apparently unaware of the information gathering mode of Saturday Tribune, Francis was also of the opinion that it would be improbable for an inmate to tell all these stories told our correspondent at the visiting arena where a prison official would ordinarily be present and watching.

However, he could not fault the reality that insiders actually spoke about life inside the prison, considering the quantum of information Saturday Tribune confronted him with.

He claimed that what most inmates refer to as prison-inside-prison is a cell known as ‘back cell’ or ‘single cell’ where any inmate suspected to have bad behaviour that can corrupt others is isolated. The issue, according to him, is that inmates crave to be free, play and interact with others, so most of them are afraid of going to that cell. There is usually nobody at the back cell, according to him, to torture an inmate who has been isolated and food is usually taken to that inmate there.

“We have not recorded any case of death in recent past involving an inmate that was tortured to death at any prison,” Enobore said, adding that if such incident is happening in any prison across the country, mortality rate of inmates would have been very high but, “our inmate survival records are good.”

Talking about taking what is given to inmates, the spokesman said no prison official is either allowed or has the opportunity to take anything that belongs to inmates because the prison service has been so sanitised such that there are a lot of monitoring teams making impromptu visits to prisons to ensure compliance.  He said that “moreover, inmates and warders confide in one another, work hand in hand and complement each other”, to justify his assertion that things are running smoothly in the system.

On the alleged missing donated chairs, he noted that there was no prison in Nigeria where prisoners are given chairs to seat. If any philanthropist or a non-governmental organisation donates chairs, he said such should ordinarily be taken to the chapel and they are always taken there. “But when there is a meeting of the officials or any occasion that requires the use of chairs, the inmates would be sent to bring some of those chairs. After the occasion, such chairs are returned to the chapel or visiting arena. In that case, does that mean that prison officials have cornered what belongs to inmates?” Enobore queried.

According to him, a lot of reforms have taken place in the prison service in Nigeria such that before most inmates leave the prison, they are equipped with skills that enable them fit into the society and live better lives.

Some of them who entered prison without any certificate according to Enobore have left with school certificates and other trade certificates, querying why the squealing inmates would not see such things to talk about.

“Why are they not talking about good things,” he rhetorically retorted.

Just last year, he recalled, four prison inmates graduated from the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) with impressive results. Three of the inmates graduated with Second Class Upper degree while the third left with a Second Class Lower degree. And most recently, an inmate was recognised as best graduating student from NOUN.

Speaking on how the prison inmates were able to achieve the feat, the Nigerian Prisons Service spokesman stated that there were six directorates in the prisons service, and that one of them was dedicated to the training of inmates in skills acquisition.

He maintained that training of inmates after prison terms is one of the cardinal objectives of the prisons service.

The spokesman told Saturday Tribune that the service is working hard to update its facilities and equipment to ensure better life for inmates after they have been discharged from prisons.

He promised to take our correspondent on facility tour of Kirikiri prison to enable him see some of the workshops and training sessions put in place for inmates, stressing that what is obtainable in one prison applies to all . They are trained in carpentry, how to run small businesses and many more.

He specifically cited the success story of one of the trained prison inmates who built electric stove with in-built oven which he is using at home.

Asked if Awaiting Trial inmates are allowed such privileges, he said they are not really convicted but are deemed innocent. As such, they might not be targets of such programmes.

“But prison authorities have directed that they be allowed to take part as much as security permits, especially to willing ones among them. So, for someone that is still seen as being innocent of crime and might vacate any moment, there is nothing to rehabilitate in that person”, he clarified.

On the issue of accommodation, Enobore said  a prison is a prison anywhere, explaining that contractors work with specifications and every prison have cells where every prisoner stays. Such cells have no facilities like chairs, air conditioners, beds or even fans because fan is considered a dangerous object that might be dismantled by inmates and misused.

However, he stated that what some inmates might have construed as privileged cell that are rented are cells where some personalities like police officers, Lawyers, Judges, top politicians are kept.

The reason behind this, according to him, is to avoid lynching. For instance, just as criminals or even an average man on the street angrily looks at rich politicians as those who steal public money and impoverish them, so also are inmates waiting for them in the cells.

If you keep a policeman together with other inmates, he explained that inmates might get up in the night and say ‘you are the one that used to arrest and torture us. If it is a judge, they will say ‘you are the one who sentenced us to prison’ and so on, and they might kill such a person.

So, when such personalities are kept in separate rooms, other inmates erroneously begin to feel that they have paid money for accommodation.

According to Enobore, across prison locations in Nigeria, inmates are allowed to prepare their meals under the supervision of a prison official. He recalled that a journalist once confronted him with an allegation that an inmate complained that there was a lot of sand in the meals they were normally served. He said he took the journalist to the kitchen where the he saw inmates preparing their meals. “So, it is difficult for someone cooking his food to put sand inside it”, he said.

On drugs, he said each prison location makes requisition for drugs based on the kind of ailment that is prevalent in the area they are. When these drugs are delivered, the clinic stores them for use.

For the sake of emphasis, he said that the prison authorities have DCP’s compliance monitoring teams that pay unscheduled visits to prison establishments and if any official is found wanting, appropriate punishment is meted to such a person.

“As long as these inmates are in prison custody, they will continue to lie against the authorities,” the prisons service spokesman told Saturday Tribune.