Kaduna – The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday in Kaduna appealed to the public to complement government’s efforts at decongesting the nation’s prisons.
The commission’s Coordinator in the state, Mr Christopher Eneji, who made the appeal in a statement said a reasonable number of inmates in prisons committed minor offences with option of fines.
Eneji said the commission’s 2015 audit of convicts in Kaduna Prison alone, found that the prison with a capacity of 547 inmates now had over 1000 inmates.
He said that most inmates might not have been in prison if they could afford to pay the fines which ranged between N2, 000 and to N10, 000.
“But due to high rate of poverty, people are languishing in prisons because they could not afford to settle the fines for offences committed,’’ he said.
Eneji noted that individuals and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) could assist in decongesting the prisons by paying the fines on behalf of inmates with option of fines.
“Well-meaning Nigerians, CBOs, CSOs, NGOs or faith-based organisations can just walk into any prison and ask for the details of inmates with option of fines and select the one to pay for.
“This could go a long way in decongesting our nation’s prisons,’’ he said.
The coordinator said that the audit was a nationwide exercise to ensure compliance with domestic and international standards for respect for human rights.
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He said the exercise had become necessary to ensure the safety of inmates and check human rights abuse. (NAN)