The population of convicts and persons awaiting trial in Nigerian Correctional centers shows that the facilities are filled by over 37%, more than their normal capacity.
According to a 2021 survey by the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), the facilities can accommodate only 53,083 inmates but currently house 70,056 inmates.
Some analysts attributed the trend to the involvement of youths in crime and other criminalities as a means for survival and fault the judiciary for slow in the adjudication of justice, as many cases are being left unattended.
Recall that in September 2020, The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Mallami said that 3,751 inmates were released since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, while efforts are made to free more people, especially those whose cases were trivial.
A non-governmental Organization, Citizens United and Rehabilitation of Errants, Cure-Nigeria stated that between 2016 and 2017, thirty babies were held in correctional facilities alongside their mothers in Kirikiri (Lagos), Port-Harcourt (Rivers), and Enugu.
Also, research conducted by a private media outfit revealed that in Keffi Correctional Service, Nasarawa State, 3.5percent of the inmates are underaged, most of them awaiting trials.
Commenting, Femi Falana (SAN) called on relevant authorities to put modalities in place to ensure the prisons are decongested and cases speedily adjudicated.
Falana alleged that some officials at some correctional facilities collect bribes from older convicts and pay youths who were ready to serve those jail terms in exchange for money.
“Some of them who have been condemned to prison terms in Kirikiri hardly get there as the exchange is made at Mile 2, a few kilometers to the prison,” he said.
Also, a legal practitioner, Mrs. Gambo Wakili expressed dismay over the increasing number of youth in Nigerian Correctional Centers and attributed it to injustice, bad governance as well a lack of respect for fundamental human rights.
She, therefore, called on stakeholders to step up measures toward finding lasting solutions to the problem.
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