Story by Dili Utomi.
The problem of congestion in Nigeria’s prisons is one that most Nigerians think should be given a priority. The correctional system of any society to some extent portrays the nature of that society. One that is loose, uncoordinated and not reforming will bring about same results in the quality of inmates and those who pass out from such a system. Conversely, a well coordinated, well funded and better managed correctional system will bring about better behaved inmates and people who pass out from such a system.
Much has been said about the correctional system in Nigeria, the various authorities in the country need to become more conscious about handling the affairs of the various correctional facilities so that the already bad security situation in the country does not degenerate even further.
The greatalternativenetwork.com caught up with a major player in the logistics business, a man who is also a public affairs commentator, Mr. Kelvin Chinedu Okechukwu and he fielded questions on the topic of prisons reform. Below are his opinions on the topic.
Question: sir, could you give us your thought about the prison system in Nigeria?
Answer: Actually, everybody in Nigeria beleives that the Prison system in Nigeria needs a good reform, all of us know that it needs a reform, but I think that we need a more radical reform. I think that the best way to do away with congestion is to build more cell rooms and even more correctional centres to accommodate the prisoner population.
I as a person believe that we have very few number of prisoners as compared to our population. We have a population of over 20 million people, but with just about 80 thousand prisoners population, that is ridiculous. The number of prisoners is not actually a reflection of our population if we are to follow the trend internationally. Many of the countries with our population talk about at least a prisoner population of over 400 thousand inmates.
The fact that we have just about 80 thousand prisoners population shows that something is wrong with the system and even at that, we still have congestion in the prisons. It shows that the government is not doing its duty. We need more cell rooms because if this population of prisoners are using the few number of correctional facilities and the number of rooms available to them, they cannot get the needed corrections to become better persons.
The prisons as they are now are centres of torture and not for reformation. We should not let prisoners pass through the system as it is now only to come out and become embittered with the society and even worse behaved than before they went in.
Question: Sir, you said that the proportion of inmates to the population is too low, playing the devil’s advocate here, do you not think that it is because Nigerians are generally good people?
Answer: Yes, Nigerians are generally good people, but you and I know that Nigerians are not the best people in the world. In this consideration, there is something called proportionality. The number of inmates as compared to our population of over 200 million people is just too low because there is a proportion of people who should be in prison for every number of the population. The generally acceptable proportion is 10 persons per 1000 population, that is about 1% of the population.
This proportionality of course also goes with the number of doctors, policemen, teachers and others per a given number of the population. If this proportion is not met, it means that things are wrong somewhere and there will be red flag everywhere. When you have a lot of people who should be in prison roaming the streets and some finding their ways into positions of authority, then there are bound to be problems as we have them now.
Question: Specifically sir, which area will you advocate that the government should pay more attention to while reforming the correctional system, is it in funding, building of physical structures, training, which areas?
Answer: When we talk about prison reforms, the major important factor here is funding and that will to a large extent take care of most of the others. You need funding for the physical structures, training, feeding, medicals and every other project that you want to carry out and including taking the inmates to court.
A greater number of the inmates in our correctional centres are awaiting trial, in fact about 50 thousand out of the 80 thousand inmates are awaiting trial at the correctional facilities. Technically, we only have 30 thousand convicts and 50 thousand innocent people being held in our correctional facilities. A lot of them cannot go to court when and as due for a number of reasons and these are some of the reasons why some people spend years as awaiting trials and be kept in correctional facilities for too long.
The judiciary also needs to play its own part and it all still boils down to funding as the judiciary is also overwhelmed and underfunded. Keeping people any moment longer than is necessary in prison is great injustice, you cannot keep somebody on awaiting trial for one year when the penalty for the purportedly committed offense is six months and so, the government needs to invest more in reforming our correctional facilities.
Question: What particular message do you have for the government and the people as regards the issue of prisons reform.
Answer: The short and direct message that I have for the government is that they should fund the prison much better, everything that we have just spoken about require funding. You cannot do anyone of these things free. Again, the problem of corruption which pervades every aspect of our national life and which has also permeated the prison system is also there. Some organisations are more sensitive to corruption than others. Some prisoners have access to phones, drugs and women/men and they also do have influence on what goes on outside the walls of the correctional facilities, masterminding all manners of crime all because of corruption, these should be dealt with as part of the reforms.
It is hoped as always that the people in authority and opinion shapers would listen and take the most important aspects of these suggestions and act fast on them in order to bring about a well refined prison system and a much better society.
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