Lagos, Rivers, Kano have highest numbers of prisoners

Lagos, Rivers and Kano states have the highest numbers of prisoners, while Ekiti and Bayelsa have the lowest numbers, according to last year’s figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The data showed that Lagos has the highest ratio, with 7,396 prisoners out of the national total of 68,686, followed by Rivers and Kano, with 4,424 and 4,183 prison inmates, respectively.

Rivers state has one of the worst prisoner congestion ratios, currently accommodating 4,424 prisoners, against the 1,354 capacity.Bayelsa and Ekiti have the lowest number of prisoners, with 444 and 585 last year, but they are still congested, as Bayelsa prison can only accommodate 200 prisoners comfortably, while Ekiti has just 400 maximum capacity.

The NBS data also revealled that there are more men in Nigeria prisons than women and more Muslims were in jail between 2015 and last year than Christians. While male inmates last year were 67,329, the women were 1,357.