[EDITORIAL] Decongesting The Custodial Facilities

In a push aimed at achieving a better-structured criminal justice system, Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has suggested that 30 percent of inmates in some 253 custodial centres across the states should be released. His reasons are based on a desire to decongest the centres and make them play their role as corrective facilities.

According to media reports, the minister in reaching out to state governors to decongest the prisons, did not emphasise justice for inmates, for the society or, for that matter, upholding the rule of law. In fairness to Aregbesola, he pointed out that many of these inmates, particularly those awaiting trial, have already spent more time behind bars than they would have if they had been convicted of the crimes they were alleged to have committed.

Figures released by the minister reveal that over 70 percent of the 75,635 inmates across the country are awaiting trial and a majority of them, 90 percent, to be exact are being held for contravening various states’ laws.  The minister was further quoted as saying, “I have written the Nigerian Governors Forum to allow me to come and address them on how they can support the process of decongestion. Because the governors must buy into this system for us to do a massive decongestion especially of awaiting trial inmates. If we get the buy-in of state judicial authorities and the government of the states, we can pull out 30 percent of those who are there”.

“If you look at a man that is caught for petty theft and you are trying him for three years, even if you convict him for that crime, how long will he stay? How long will that fellow stay, probably six months, but without trial, he will be there for three years.” In the view of this newspaper, that in itself, is injustice

In his statement, the minister acknowledged that the roughly 51,541 inmates in various prisons in the country that are awaiting trial mostly are for petty crimes. What he did not highlight is the fact that violent criminals that were placed behind bars, either convicted or awaiting trial, have all escaped from prison custody.

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It is estimated that there have been at least 15 jailbreaks in the country since he resumed office at the Interior Ministry and 7,000 prisoners have made good their escape during that period. The most recent was the attack by Boko Haram on the Kuje Custodial Centre to free some of their members. Added to the jailbreaks are reports alleging that the government freed over 100 Boko Haram members from Kirikiri in exchange for the remaining victims that were kidnapped during the Kaduna train attack.

Convicted inmates with money and access to power have also found their way out of prison. Earlier in April, President Muhammadu Buhari granted state pardon to former governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame of Plateau and Taraba states, who are serving terms in jail for corruption. The governors were among 159 prisoners pardoned by the president. Nyame was serving a 12-year jail term at the Kuje prison for misappropriation of funds while he was in office, while Dariye, sentenced in June 2018, was convicted for stealing N2 billion as Plateau state governor.

With the violent criminal able to break out any prison facility, or stage high profile kidnapping to bring government to the negotiation table, the majority left in custodial centres are those accused of crimes or inmates too poor to pay fines that are so little; in their case, as much as N5,000. The Dariye and Nyame have earned presidential pardons.

This newspaper commends the minister for, at least, considering the plight of the more than 50,000 awaiting trial inmates who are stuck in limbo due to a dysfunctional justice system. And it is only fair to release awaiting trial inmates that have not being charged for violent crimes and don’t have the means and access to power to lobby for their release.

We recognize that for peace to reign in Nigeria, the country has to uphold the rule of law and crimes must be seen to be punished.  For this reason, we hope the minister will draft in the ministry of justice, and if need be, the presidency into this initiative and work out the kind of crimes that cannot be overlooked before sitting down with the state governors.

The country is in an election season and tensions are already rising high. The last thing the country needs is an arbitrary release of convicted criminals that will be used by politicians to intimidate the citizenry and settle political scores on the streets.

It is in this context that we appeal for thoroughness in the handling of this issue of decongestion of custodial facilities so as not to create a new problem while trying to solve an old one.