It was gathered on Wednesday that over 80 prisoners who escaped from the Owerri Custodial Centre have voluntarily returned to the facility.
A source in the Nigerian Correctional Service disclosed this. The Nation report.
The source said, “About 17 of them returned on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, we saw more than 20 returning back.
“But they are mainly those on awaiting trial, those who have less prison term and those who are about to complete their terms, have returned so far”.
About 42 of the inmates returned on Monday evening, making the total number of returnees 80.
“The problem we are having, and this is not peculiar to the jailbreak here, is that none of the hardened and condemned inmates (HCI) who escaped has returned.
“This is understandable because it will take a miracle for a person who knows that his execution can take place any moment, to return after his freedom was given to him freely by those who broke into the facility,” the source said.
The gunmen whom the police said were members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) attacked the correctional facility and freed over 1,844 inmates on Monday.
On Tuesday, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, announced an amnesty for inmates that voluntarily returned. This increased the expectation that more of the escapees would return to the facility to complete their terms.
The source said, “Most of the returnee inmates were escorted back by their parents, lawyers and relations.
“We are expecting that more will return by the weekend.
“Most of them want to return but they’re afraid that they might be manhandled by some security agents.
“We have very good inmates whose characters we can vouch for. That’s why we need to bring back the parole policy.”
The Public Relations Officer of the Owerri Correctioner Service, James Madugba, confirmed that more escapees were still returning to the centre.
However, he said he could not confirm the number of prisoners that had returned so far.
