Correctional Service trains 550 awaiting trial inmates

A total of 550 awaiting trial inmates have been trained in different vocations between January 2018 and November 2019 in six Nigerian Correctional Services Centres (NCS), says the Service.

They are Kirikiri Maximum, Medium and Female Custodial Centres, Ikoyi Custodial Centre, Mandella Custodial Centre, Ilorin and Ile-Ife Custodial Custodial Centre.64 of the inmates in Ikoyi custodial center graduated in paints making and painting under the Anchor Heritage Empowerment Initiative (AHI).

The training programme lasted one week and was part of the “Reformation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration” programme of the Ikoyi Correctional Service for the awaiting trial inmates.

Executive Director, AHI, Bidemi Oladipupo during the graduation ceremony in Ikoyi said they decided to equip the inmates and others in the custody of the centre with relevant skills in order to increase their chances of integrating fully into the society when they eventually regained their freedom.He said that they also partner with the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria to provide free legal service to distressed inmates and have secured the release of 58 inmates, paid the fine imposed on some by the courts and presently representing over 100 others in different courts.

However, Deputy Controller (NCS) Ikoyi, Tolu Ogunsakin said that the Nigerian Correctional Services Act 2019, provides for custodial and non-custodial sentences.Ogunsakin explained that while non-custodial sentences provided for community services in which a convict goes from his home to work for the community, custodial sentence provided for remand in the centers.He also disclosed that 180 of the inmates wrote the last General Certificate of Education (GCE), some of them scoring over 246 in Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination and that there were also those who bagged PhD at the centre.