The Kano Command of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) has raised an alarm over the high cases of inmates awaiting trial across its centres in the state.
Spokesperson Musbahu Lawan, who hinted at the development at a press briefing Monday worried over the implication of the overwhelming population.
Lawan said the overcrowded facility already stretched above capacity posed a huge challenge to the standard operations of the handlers who themselves are vulnerable to potential threats.
The spokesman of the command revealed the number of inmates awaiting court decisions tripled the total percentage of convicted inmates, thereby preventing full deposition of reformatory enforcement on them.
According to him, “Statistics shows that awaiting trial inmates constitute about 70 percent of the total number of inmates in the state, and that most of them have stayed in custody with their cases yet to be determined by the courts.
“So far, if the awaiting trial persons are eventually convicted, we would not cry over the congestion because our laws give us the power to transfer convicted inmates to any facility in the Country”.
The command image maker further disclosed that “Convicted inmates are easier to manage because they are mandated to engage in various reformatory programmes, an opportunity which awaiting trial persons may not have.
“Most of the convicted inmates also benefit from the educational programmes in the Custodial Centers. For instance, a total of 38 convicted inmates sat for and passed the NECO SSCE and are now seeking for admission at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).
“But due to additional interest of the inmates in academics, the Service is working with NOUN to establish more study centres in the Custodial Centres in the state. But our major obstacle is lack of study facilities like computers and materials study while others are benefited with other reformatory program in the Custodial Centers.”
The spokesman stated that the Federal Government has introduce the non-custodial measures like parole, community service, probation etc. to address the overcrowding conundrum in Custodial Centers.
He commended some judges who are complementing the Federal Government’s effort by making maximum use of non custodial sentencing.
He assured that NCS will continue to pursue its mandate of keeping safe and humane custody of the legally interned, while protecting the society safer by reforming rehabilitating and reintegrating offenders.
