The number of convicted and awaiting-trial inmates in custody has risen to 65,000, Comptroller General of Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS), Dr. Peter Ekpendu, has said, expressing concern that the figure has put severe pressure on facilities.
He disclosed this while speaking after the launch of the Human Rights Training Manual and Training Guide to NPS by the Swiss Embassy.
On the number of inmates, Ekpendu said: “We currently have 65,000 inmates on the average in all our Nigerian prisons. This number includes those awaiting trial and the convicted persons.
“Let me also use this opportunity to correct one impression on the congestion of the prisons. On the average, if we want to base our consideration on international standard, Nigerian prisons are not over-crowded.
“However, when you consider the urban prisons, I can tell you that they are terribly over-crowded. Talking about the ratio of inmates in the urban prisons, we have an average of between 75 and 80 per cent awaiting trial inmates,” Ekpendu stated.
“Don’t forget that the challenge of congestion of prisons cannot be blamed alone on the prison system, which we all know is more of a receptacle. So long as inmates are arrested and we don’t discharge them at the same rate, some must be wrong along the line.
“The problem is with the case of awaiting trial inmates and the measures we have to take to decongest the prison service in isolation of the criminal justice system, which involves all the security and arresting agencies.
“So long as we don’t improve the criminal justice system, so long as the courts are not dispensing these cases as at when due, we must continue to encounter congestion problems.
“On our part, what we try to do is to ensure that we produce the inmates to courts within the limits of what we can provide. We are not the prosecuting agency. We are trying the much we can but the pressure on our facilities is much.”