The inmate processing travel documents

IT may appear rather uncharitable to reference Nigeria as a crime scene but this label perfectly fits it judging by the acts of lawlessness frequently engaged in by many citizens, including those who are thought to have been isolated from the society, being punished for the  crimes they committed earlier. In other words, those who ordinarily would not be regarded as elements in a universal set of active criminals are allegedly being aided by unscrupulous officials to feature prominently. Or how do you associate the current criminal acts being committed in the society with persons who are behind bars? That is the sordid state of affairs the country is contending with. And in all of this, the role allegedly being played by law enforcement agents in aiding the perpetration of these breaches of the law is disturbingly significant.

Just recently, the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) launched an inquiry into the suspicious movement of a robbery convict, Haruna Ayo, to a passport office in Lagos to process travel documents. Not a few Nigerians were outraged by this development, which constitutes a national embarrassment, triggering renewed concerns over systemic corruption within Nigeria’s correctional facilities. The convict, who is serving a 21-year sentence for armed robbery at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Custodial Centre, Apapa, Lagos, was reportedly escorted by prison officials to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) passport office in FESTAC Town!  Ayo was said to have been initially sentenced to life imprisonment but had his term reduced on appeal and was due for release on October 11, 2025. Apparently,  Ayo was trying to prepare for life after completing his term judging by the imminence of his freedom from incarceration, but he went about it the wrong way, allegedly aided by officials who, ironically, have the mandate to help steer him and his ilk away from lawlessness. He should have known or been informed by the prison authorities that he is not entitled to certain rights and privileges that free citizens are entitled to. Or where lies the force or essence of deterrence if convicts who are  imprisoned for wrongdoing can exercise rights or access privileges like free and  law-abiding citizens?

This incident would have been another egregious breach of the law that went undetected or unrecorded but for the smart and alert immigration officials who observed and flagged the irregular and suspicious behaviour of the convict’s  escort. This prompted the immigration officers to detain both the inmate and his escort and escalate the matter to the Lagos headquarters of the NCoS at Alagbon. Two NCoS  officers associated with the strange incident have been reportedly suspended, but many believe that the real culprits who authorised the illegal action have yet to be ‘touched’. Sadly, the instant case is not an isolated one as instances of breaches of custodial regulations by prison officials abound. Perhaps the incident that brought the misconduct of prison officials to the front burner in recent times was the  preferential treatment allegedly accorded a cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye, also known as  Bobrisky, at the same Kirikiri prison facility. It was a monumental  scandal that  triggered wider and intensive scrutiny of the correctional service, which is plagued by recurring allegations of corruption, VIP privileges for affluent inmates, and routine breaches of custodial regulations. Also, in September 2024, there were reports of another inmate in Ebonyi State, Ibuchi Eze, being smuggled out of prison to visit a girlfriend. Officials of the Afikpo Correctional Centre in Ebonyi State reportedly took the inmate out of the facility to see his girlfriend for a conjugal exercise. Ironically, Ibuchi, who then still had about a year to complete his prison term, was behind bars for rape in the first place. The implication is that he was receiving encouragement, as it were, for his lasciviousness, even behind bars! No lesson was taught or learnt because there was corruption in the mix. There was also a report of an inmate impregnating his wife and organising a naming ceremony in one of the country’s correctional centres! Just how did that happen in a clime where conjugal visit is hardly one of the privileges extended to prisoners?

Similarly, in January this year, there was a shocking revelation that some inmates at the Warri Custodial Centre, Okere, Delta State, were involved in an armed robbery in Benin City, Edo State. Surprisingly, when the outcome of investigation led the police to storm the prison, they were met with resistance from the officials, who initially refused to produce the suspects. Nonetheless, authorities eventually apprehend one of them—an inmate on death row—who confessed to participating in the crime! Is it not insane that prison officials would allow an inmate on death row to go out and commit crime? What if he did not come back, especially when he had literally nothing to lose if he chose to escape? It is difficult to fathom how the minds of some crooked public officials work. They compromise standards and make thoughtless decisions that do not only put their careers on the line but also endanger the lives of their innocent compatriots for filthy lucre.

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It would not be out of place to surmise that convicts are released into society to commit robberies and other crimes with the proceeds of crime shared with correctional service personnel. Worse still, it may well be that some of the unresolved high crimes in the society like the assassination of prominent individuals were carried out by inmates of  correctional centres hired by devilish principals who knew that they would never be suspected of participating in such crimes because they were seemingly out of circulation. It is really disgraceful. The instant case, together with the ones before it, shows that there is hardly any length some public officials are not willing to go in order to corruptly enrich themselves. It is sadly the case that outlaws who have been lawfully sanctioned and are being punished and corrected to purge them of their lawlessness and aberrant tendencies are being treated as members of a privileged class with unrestrained freedoms, provided that they have the resources to compromise correctional centres’ officials. Perhaps it should be mentioned that only a few of the illegal actions of these unconscionable prison officials come to light. And that is worrying.

Certainly, reining in the recurrent embarrassment of breaches of custodial regulations by officials will require  comprehensive and painstaking inquiry into the activities of the NCoS followed by pragmatic reforms, not just a knee-jerk reaction to incidents. There is a deep-rooted and age-long rot in the service bolstered by impunity, and such  decadence must be stymied.