• Over 6, 200 inmates escaped in three years
• 1,000 recaptured
• Estimated 5,000 on the run
• Senate alleges insider connivance, corruption

On April 25, 2024, the news broke of another jailbreak in the country. This time, it happened at the Suleja Medium Security Correctional Centre in Niger State, where authorities say 119 inmates escaped custody following heavy rains and storms that officials said led to the collapse of the facility’s perimeter fence leading to the escape of the detainees. TINA ABEKU writes on jailbreaks, the latest after the Kuje attack in a series of similar jailbreaks and prisoners’ escape in custodial facilities across Nigeria’s custodial centres in the last three years.

Following the historic EndSARs protest of 2020, the rate of jailbreaks in Nigeria has been on the rise. While many, especially those in power, are quick to place the blame on the doorsteps of hoodlums and allege lawbreakers, experts have argued that persistent neglect, poor budgetary allocation, complicity of officers of officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service, (NCoS), and corruption among others are responsible for the deplorable state of correctional centres in the country.

As concerns continue to grow and apprehension over public safe becomes rife, questions such as why are jailbreaks becoming frequent? Who is to blame and what can be done to stem it, are begging for answers.

An estimated 5, 000 inmates are on the run out of over that have escaped custodial detention since EndSARS in 2020 owing to jailbreaks and jail attacks in Nigeria.

While the year 2023 went without any jailbreak incidence, according to officials, some Nigerians have attributed the frequent jailbreaks to poor prison facilities; others believe that the incidents may be the result of collusion between prison officials and the inmates.

Senior Programmes Manager, Access to Justice Public and Private Development Centre, (PPDC), KenechukwuAgwu, believes that overcrowding in the custodial facilities is a push factor for inmates wanting to escape custody.

He said some offences could be handled without individuals going to jail or being kept in custody further worsening the already overcrowded facilities.

“Court administration and case management will go a long way in reducing the rate of pretrial detentions. Sometimes individuals are detained because they can’t find their files or the judge has traveled and the files can’t be accessed or done other reasons.

“Digitisation of the entire court administration and case management process makes it easy to access case files for attention wherever you are and these cases can be seen in real-time in any part of the world even while in some other engagement. This will help reduce overcrowding of our facilities,” he said.

Why Jailbreaks Are Becoming Frequent
Recently, President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, said following the name change of the Nigerian Prison Service (NPS) to the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) in 2019, jailbreaks have worsened. He noted that the agency’s primary focus should not be just to punish criminals but to reform them. However, it appears that the authorities have not been able to achieve this objective, as evidenced by the recent jailbreaks.

A factor that contributes to the rising number as alleged by Akpabio, is connivance between prison officials and the inmates. Reports have emerged of prison officials accepting bribes and looking the other way while inmates escape. This sentiment is shared by the public.

A resident of Niger State who wouldn’t want his name mentioned, told The Guardian that those who visited the scene of the jailbreak noted that it is impossible for the prisoners to escape in the manner they did without officials letting them do so.

He pointed out that the Suleja facility is already taken over by modernisation and is surrounded by residential buildings but NCoS officials are often not alert to securing the centre which is why they use cheap building materials to erect the perimeter wall that collapsed during the early rains.

This corruption within the ranks of the prison service has allegedly made it difficult to stem the tide of jailbreaks.

Another reason why jailbreaks are occurring frequently could be due to the deplorable state of prison facilities in Nigeria, observed Dr. UjuAgomoh, Founder and Executive Director, Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action, (PRAWA).

She explained that many of these facilities are overcrowded and lack basic amenities such as running water and adequate medical care. This situation has made it easy for inmates to organize themselves and plan successful escapes.

Agomoh said: “Despite provisions of section 2 subsections 1 of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019, which designates the correctional service facilities as rehabilitation and reformation facilities for individuals who have been found in conflict with the law, the number of Awaiting Trial Persons, (ATP), far exceeds the number of convicted inmates.

“The criminal justice system in Nigeria faces significant challenges contributing to the prolonged detention of inmates and exacerbating the overcrowded correctional facilities.”

This situation, she said, has led to congestion in the custodial centres and has hindered the implementation of rehabilitation programmes.

She further said the number of Awaiting Trial Persons (ATPs), about 70 per cent of the prison population, far exceeds the number of convicted inmates leading to congestion and poor needs assessment of inmates has resulted in missed opportunities for target interventions because oftentimes, high-risk inmates are put in the same facility with low-risk inmates and is a security threat as it could cultivate more high-risk individuals in the society if later released.

Meanwhile, national spokesman of the NCoS, Umar Abubakar, has said the agency has witness a lot of positive changes since the birthing of the NCoS Act 2019 as it has shifted from punitive to reformatory ways of handling inmates.

He said a lot of non-custodial measures are now being implemented in the service to address issues of overcrowding in the correctional centres.
Umar, however, lamented that slow justice delivery, aging facilities and insufficient funding has continued to make the agency to come full circle in realizing its constitutional mandate.He said: “For any custodial centre that experiences the conundrum of congestion, there will be wear and tear of such a facility.

“Talking about the issue of congestion in our custodial centres, the federal government in the last administration has already put up mechanisms decongestion the custodial centres by establishing sic 3, 000 capacity ultramodern custodial centres across the geopolitical zones of the country. One has already come on stream, that is the one located in Janguza, Kano State for the North-Central.

“The one located in Abuja is at almost 70 per cent completion.
“There is also this issue of expansion of existing facilities through upgrading of the facilities by bringing down the aging walls where there is need to restructure.”

Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, who visited the scene of the jailbreak in Suleja, said Federal Government is going to look further into the remote and immediate cause of the collapse of the perimeter fence leading to the escape of the inmates.

“We must make sure that this does not happen again. This could have been avoided if the right information at the appropriate time had been disseminated with regards to the structure and others.
“But we will get them back; we will secured our correctional facilities and make sure that this doesn’t happen again in Nigeria.

“Obviously the walls are already old and there are certain responsibilities we must take but we’ll do everything possible to prevent this happening in other facilities,” he added.
Who Is To Blame For The Frequent Jailbreaks In Nigeria?
WHILE there may be valid reasons for poor prison conditions, prison officials cannot absolve themselves of responsibility for the failures of the correctional system as earlier mentioned by the Senate President. The government, too, must take some responsibility, as it has failed to prioritise prison reform, even after changing the name of the Nigerian Prison Service to the Nigerian Correctional Service, said Director General, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Aliyu Bagudu-Abubakar.

He pointed that the issue of congestion is probably a question of two fold problems: one is that prisons are not enough in number, and second, but more importantly, is the fact that the remand system’ is such that for every little offense, people are thrown in custody.

“This is why you see that our correctional centres are overcrowded with inmates and unfortunately inmates who are still awaiting trial.
“For us in Legal Aid Council, essentially we are established by the government to assist the poor, so that the poor and indigents can be able to access justice.

“Every stakeholder in the justice sector is concerned about the issues around criminal justice administration and that is why we are seeking ways to ensure poor Nigerians do not suffer,” he said.
Stemming The Tide

To stem the tide of jailbreaks in Nigeria, there must be a concerted effort by all stakeholders, including the government, prison officials, and civil society organisations.

Some are of the view that the government must invest in modernising and upgrading the facilities where inmates are held.

They should also invest in the training and welfare of prison officials to reduce the likelihood of corruption.

Project Coordinator, Prisons and Penal Reforms, UNODC, MunchanetaMundopa, noted that training of corrections personnel will promote global best practices in terms of international minimum standards and good practices related to the classification of inmates, including the treatment of inmates with special needs, women inmates and those assessed to be of high risk.

She said: “We know that there is a high number of awaiting trial inmates and not everyone who is in prison is supposed to be within the prison so non-custodial measures and strengthening the capacity of the justice actors to look at non-custodial measures as well as strengthening the issue of rehabilitation and social reintegration of offenders.

“Like we always say if someone is in prison, eventually they will come out if they do not die in prison so they need to be equipped to live life as a law-abiding citizen and for society to be able to accept them back into the society because in often cases we often see that there’s stigmatisation that continues when someone comes out of prison.”
Jailbreaks Since 2020

Recall on October 19 2020, the custodial centre in Oko, Edo State was breached in the heat of the EndSARS protests by alleged protesters. 1, 993 inmates were escaped. By October 22, 2020, the Okitipupa custodial centre, Ondo State, was also attacked and 58 inmates were said to have escaped.

The Owerri facility in Imo State was attacked by allege Eastern Security Network, (ESN), on April 5th 2021 facilitating the escape of 1, 844 inmate, while the Jos custodial centre in Plateau State, came under attack and four inmates escaped on July 8, 2021.

By September 13 of the same 2021, the Kabba facility in Kogi State was attacked and 240 inmates were let loose. This jail attack is followed by that of Abolongo in Oyo State in October 22nd 2021, where another Jos attack took place on November 28th of the same year making two attacks on the facility in a spate of about five months, five detainees.

On January 2, 2022, Mandala facility in Ilorin, Kwara State was breached in a jailbreak and three escaped. By May 13, 2022, another jailbreak occurred in Agbor, Delta State after a heavy downpour collapsed one of the perimeter fencing giving room for three inmates to escape before they were rearrested.

By July 5 of the same 2022, another attack was unleashed on the Kuje medium correctional centre of by suspected Islamic State West Africa Province, (ISWAP), terrorist leading to the escape of 879 inmates including hardened Boko Haram terrorists.

The most recently recorded jailbreak is the one that took place in Suleja, Niger State where 119 escaped but 14 have so far been recaptured.
As Nigeria looks inward to finding lasting solutions to these challenges, civil society organisations must work with the government to advocate for prison reform and raise awareness about the deplorable conditions in which inmates are held.

Many have also said that those who escape from correctional facilities must be brought to justice and punished accordingly. By punishing them, the authorities can send a strong message that jailbreaks will not be tolerated.

Authorities must make concerted effort to track down the fugitives and ensure that they do not pose a threat to society as assured not the minister of Interior, Dr. Tunji-Ojo that fleeing inmates will be brought back to detention.

In conclusion, the rising number of jailbreaks in Nigeria is a cause for concern, and urgent action is needed to address the underlying issues.

Obviously, this is not a task that the government can undertake alone hence; this requires a collaborative effort from all stakeholders to reform Nigeria’s prison system as failure to act could result in serious consequences for Nigerian society as a whole, including increased crime rates and a breakdown of law and order.