STILL ON AWAITING TRIAL INMATES

The Correctional Centres are in dire need of reform

Latest revelation that 73 per cent of prison inmates in Nigeria are awaiting trial is another pointer to the failure of justice administration in the country. According to the Director-General of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Aliyu Abubakar who made the disclosure, the problem has been compounded by “inadequate centres, and, more importantly, the remand system where suspects are detained for minor issues, leading to overcrowding.” While it is not unlikely that many of those unfortunate Nigerians may have spent longer than the period for which they would have been jailed if their cases had been promptly disposed of, the main concern is that there is no sign that anything would change or that efforts are being made to address this problem.

As we have argued on this page repeatedly, having these individuals languish in prison without any attempt at hearing their cases is a clear violation of their fundamental rights. Beyond that, what the huge gulf between the number of convicted persons and those awaiting trial clearly reveals is that the machinery of justice dispensation is not properly oiled. There are stories that in many of the stinking, tiny prisons across the country, some inmates have spent between 10 and 20 years in detention without trial. Prisoners and detainees, many of whom had never been tried in court have been subjected to torture, terrible living conditions in overcrowded cells, and deliberately deprived of good meals.

 Although Abubakar pledged “to reduce the 60 per cent of awaiting trial inmates, and they will eventually find their way out of the correctional centers,” Nigerians had been fed with such promises in the past, but to no avail. Besides, he also admitted that even though the government is doing its best to reduce the number of inmates, unfortunately many more people are being handed over to the custodial centres.

While we do not advocate a wholesale release of these detainees, it does not make any sense keeping people perpetually detained without being tried. The security breaches in many of correctional centres are a strong evidence of a failed prison system for which the appropriate government authorities must take full responsibility.

There is the need for some intervention measures which should include access to justice programme for the inmates; better endowment for prisoner education; and vocational training and rehabilitation programmes. There is also an urgent need by the authorities to conduct prison inspections on a regular basis while there must always be a swift response to complaints. Above all, the federal government must work with the states on how to decongest the prisons, especially of those who ordinarily should not be there.

We must also note that many of the prisons were built during the colonial era and since then no efforts have been made to renovate them. Consequently, the worn-out facilities and infrastructure are unable to cater for the increasing population of prisoners. The result is outbreak of diseases in the prison environment. It is therefore no surprise that whereas the prison systems in most countries are meant to reform the prisoners, the Nigerian system hardens them.

Therefore, efforts at decongesting our prisons and ameliorating the plight of ATM would come to naught without adequate judicial reform aimed at a complete overhauling of the country’s criminal justice system.