EDITORIAL: Nigeria’s inhuman prisons
A country is respected by the way it treats its less privileged citizens. Such less privileged ones are not only those living on the fringes of existence but also those incarcerated by the state for various offences. Therefore, when it comes to looking after the welfare of those at the margins of society, Nigeria had always been found wanting. That is why the lamentation by the Deputy Comptroller of Prisons (DCP), Mr. Matthew Kalu over the decaying state of Owerri Federal Prison gives room for concern.
While on an official tour of the facility, the prison boss decried a situation where a facility built to accommodate only 500 persons now holds more than 3,000 inmates. According to him, the population is above what the facility can conveniently accommodate at a time. We are also alarmed at this unwholesome development. We all know that prisons in Nigeria perform the functions of keeping convicts safe including suspects as well as execute sentences passed on persons by the courts of the land. They also ensure the reformation and rehabilitation of inmates through moral training, education and offering them opportunities to develop other potentials and skills for effective reintegration into the society on discharge.
In addition, prisons are invested with the responsibility of ensuring welfare of inmates through the provision of good health care, feeding, clothing and recreational facilities in order to create the enabling environment for reformation and rehabilitation programmes. Unfortunately, the status of the country’s prisons does not attract a great deal of public attention unlike the police and courts. For long, human rights organisations and other concerned citizens have called for radical transformation of the country’s prisons in line with what obtains in more democratic and developed societies. Sadly, successive administrations have been bereft of ideas as to what to do with prison inmates including how to treat them. It was as result of this confusion that a Prison Reform Programme (PFP) was undertaken in 1999, which focused attention on the many problems confronting the prisons.
Even when huge sums of money have been spent on the programme not much was achieved in reforming the institution towards making it serve the interest of the larger society. It is a fact that as society develops, there are bound to be more deviants who break the laws and commit other crimes that demand incarceration. Pathetically, such environment where they are kept has become a sore thumb on the conscience of society. In many of the prisons, the water cistern toilets are either broken or even where they exist; there is no water to flush after use.
It is common knowledge that in this day and age, many of the prisons still use the bucket system which not only create stench in the cells but more so pose serious health hazards to inmates. With the ensuing overcrowding, most prisoners sleep on the floor. Such overcrowding and poor sanitation leads to a high incidence of disease such as tuberculosis, skin infections and malaria. It is even more pathetic when it is realised that most prisons lack health facilities. We believe it is time the authorities look into the problems confronting the prisons with a view to decongesting and making them more conducive for inmates.
