Forgotten by the courts, Unwanted by Prisons – Nigerian jail birds

Awaiting Trial Persons hang between life and death in dingy prison cells, uncertain of their fate, ADELANI ADEPEGBA Of PUNCH writes

It was an assessment visit to Kuje Prison in Abuja by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Abba Moro. But he got more than he bargained for as about 20 Boko Haram suspects awaiting trial in the maximum-security prison protested the delay in their trial since 2012 when they were arrested and detained at the jail.

The inmates claimed that they had been in detention for a period of one year without trial by a court of competent jurisdiction. The suspects were arrested in Kano and Borno states on suspicion of having links with the dreaded Boko Haram sect.

The inmates asked the minister to provide additional vehicles to Kuje Prisons to facilitate the movement of suspects to courts for trial. An inmate, who did not disclose his name, said he had spent eight years in Kuje Prison and blamed the slow justice delivery system on the congestion in Nigerian prisons.

Narrating his experience, he said that he had been to court more than 57 times within the period.

The inmate therefore urged the minister to do everything within his power to fast track the justice system in the country, adding, “not all inmates in the prison are criminals.”

This scenario captures the plight of awaiting trial inmates in Nigerian prisons. As at September 2012, the 235 prisons in the country have a total population of 54,156 consisting of 38,352 awaiting trial persons, 15,593 convicted males and 211 convicted females.

Most people believe that the management of the Nigerian Prison Service is not doing enough to address the issue of ATPs, but the NPS itself has expressed worry over the huge population of ATPs in its custody, which constitutes a burden on its finances, and the effective operation of the penitentiaries. They have also been described as a latent danger to the society.

The prison is meant for convicted persons, but the opposite is the case in Nigeria as the population of ATPs surpasses that of convicts.

Though the NPS has different skill acquisition programmes for inmates, ATPs do not benefit, as they are not regarded as ‘legal residents’ of prisons. They are thus left to literally vegetate because the system has not been ‘authorised’ to reform them. They are forgotten by the courts and are unwanted by the prison system, which sees them as a nuisance.

The prison service seems to be helpless in this regard. As the Assistant Comptroller-General in charge of Social Welfare, Chuks Afujie, told Saturday PUNCH, the ATPs pose a big constraint to the prison system because they occupy a lot of space that could be used for other purposes. He said, “Awaiting trial inmate could escape if allowed to participate in training programmes and this could jeopardise an officer’s career. ATPs are not seen as the prison service’s responsibility and they are not usually allowed to participate in training programmes.”

In the last one year, the system has experienced jailbreaks with many detainees escaping from the harsh conditions in the gulag. Amnesty International, in its 2008 report, condemned the appalling state of Nigeria’s prison system, saying that Nigeria’s prisons are filled with people whose human rights are being systematically violated. The organisation said that the criminal justice system in Nigeria, which it described as a “conveyor belt of injustice, from beginning to end,” is utterly failing the people.

In a 50-page report, the organisation reveals how at least 65 per cent of Nigeria’s inmates have never been convicted of any crime, with some awaiting trial for up to 10 years; how most people in the prisons are too poor to afford a lawyer, with only one in seven awaiting trial having access to private legal representation. It also reveals how appalling prison conditions, including severe overcrowding, are seriously damaging the mental and physical health of thousands.

“The problems in Nigeria’s criminal justice system – especially its prisons – are so blatant and egregious that the Nigerian government has had no choice but to recognise them – and has pledged many times that it will reform the system.

“However, the reality is that those in prison stand little chance of their rights being respected. Those without money stand even a lesser chance. Some could end up spending the rest of their lives behind bars in appalling conditions without ever having been convicted of a crime – sometimes simply due to their case files having been lost by the police, “ said Aster van Kregten, Amnesty International’s Nigeria researcher, while speaking at a press conference in Abuja. Unfortunately, the situation has barely improved, four years later.

The NPS, however, insists that it has evolved new strategies and reforms to turn things around in the system. It lays the blame of high ATPs on the doorstep of the police and the judiciary. Acting DCG, Operations, Ibrahim Zuru, described the huge number of awaiting trial inmates as “a monster staring at the prison service,” adding that the prison authority has introduced prisoners upkeep management system which involves paying personal attention to individual inmates in collaboration with some non-governmental agencies, including the Nigerian Bar Association.

The NPS management, Zuru added, was training its armed squads to respond to incidents of jailbreaks and provide security for the prison environment.

Assistant Comptroller-General of Prisons in charge of Research and Publication, Dr. Ifedora Orakwe, at a briefing with journalists at the NPS headquarters in Abuja, stated that the ATPs were the consequence of a malfunctioning judiciary.

“Prison service’s responsibility is to reform inmates and not to keep them indefinitely; we can’t perform the function of the police or the judiciary,” he said.

 He observed that the police who dumped people in the prisons caused the congestion in the prisons and the NPS officer has no choice than to accept anyone brought to the facility once there is a warrant from the court.

On what the service is doing to address the problem, Orakwe said that the NPS has deployed its lawyers to assist detainees in getting quick justice.  Orakwe pointed out that detention of inmates for long without trial posed a danger to the society as the victims of such treatment often become embittered, and frustrated and they turn against the society when released. According to him, the root of the Boko Haram insurgency in the country could be traced to unjust detention of people who had taken arms against the state.

He said, “Boko Haram comes from illegally detained people who may have become bitter and frustrated. When they leave their jail cells during jailbreaks, they turn against the society. Government must pay attention to those behind the walls because when they are released into the society, they become dangerous, if not well managed.”

To make the inmates useful to themselves and the society, the NPS said it had developed various self-development programmes which the inmates participated in.

Deputy Comptroller-General of Prisons (Training), Alhaji Mohammed Isah, explained that the service has agricultural and industrial units where inmates are trained. He stated that 124 inmates were trained on trade in 2012 and 18 had grade A, 80 had grade 2 and 32 grade 3, while 335 others were to be tested.

Isah said his department has acquired new binding machines for welding and the tools have been deployed in Kaduna and Kuje prisons while plans are on to extend it to Calabar Prisons. According to him, the NPS has a cottage industry for raw materials and also runs a printing press in Lagos, which generated over N2m in 2011.

“We have over 1,500 inmates under training in agriculture and we generated over N26 million last year. We also set up a shoe factory in Aba, Abia State and we are working with various agric research institutes to boost our farming techniques and increase our yield and outputs,” the DCG said.

Afujie said a number of inmates had benefited from the literacy programme of the service. He said that in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, the service runs primary and secondary schools and 34 inmates sat for NECO in 2012; 34  also sat for WAEC and NECO in Enugu Prisons and 33 others are running NOUN programme.

He added that while four inmates are running NOUN programmes in Awka Prison, 53 sat for NECO in Kuje Prisons while a study centre is also being considered for the facility, adding, “48 inmates were recommended to the Federal Government for release.”

The service, on December 19, 2012, presented working tools to 25 former prison inmates to enable them to be self-dependent, as part of its aftercare programme. The beneficiaries, drawn from five states in different geo-political zones in the country, were given trade materials for various vocations including tailoring, welding, interior decoration and hair dressing at a brief ceremony at the NPS Headquarters, Abuja.

Comptroller-General of Prisons, Mr. Ibrahim Zakari, explained that the materials were procured for the beneficiaries after they had learnt various trade during their prison terms.

The CG added that the inmates had made commitments in writing that they would cooperate with the NPS to manage their post-adjustment efforts.

He said, “One of the beneficiaries who resides in Dutse Alhaji in Bwari Area Council of Abuja has got a workshop in Utako; he is into interior decoration and was a student of NOUN while in prison. He is continuing with his NOUN programme and is now at 400 level and his major is cooperative studies. He has equally volunteered to go round our prisons and speak to our inmates as a role model.”

Zakari stated that the prison service runs an entrepreneurial training programme for inmates at the maximum, medium and the female prisons, Kirikiri, Lagos in collaboration with the Prison Fellowship Nigeria, Covenant University, Ota and the Small and Medium Enterprises Agency of Nigeria.

The CG said that about 61 inmates had graduated from the entrepreneurial programme while 21 inmates matriculated in July. He added that 43 inmates at Enugu, Lagos and Port Harcourt prisons   special study centres of the National Open University of Nigeria matriculated on November 24, 2012, bringing the number of inmates on the NOUN programme at the centres to 77.

On behalf of other beneficiaries, Rasheed Sodipo and Chukwuma Okoye thanked the service for the tools and promised to utilise them well. Okoye, who is running a NOUN programme, said he was detained for 10 years for assault without trial.

Apart from training inmates, the service is also retraining its personnel. ACG Jafaru Ahmed in charge of Administration said about 1,263 staff were recently trained while 249 personnel graduated from the staff college in Kaduna.

“Two recently went for courses at the Institute of Security Studies, Bwari, Abuja; 10 undergoing counter-revolutionary warfare training at Army college, Jaji; 37 attended command course; 810 attended CPS in Lagos and Kaduna while 2285 junior staff were recently promoted,” he stated.

The prison officers were saddened by the apparent neglect of the prison system by the government and they were particularly miffed by the apathy of the state governments who they accused of not bothering about the welfare of the inmates.

“State governors donate vehicles and money to the police and other agencies, but conveniently forget the prisons where the criminals and other bad characters are kept. Yet, these inmates may not have been brought to the prisons if the government had embarked on proper social engineering and invested in youths and the people; prison congestion is a foundation for future calamity,” they warned.