By Chijioke Kingsley
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Federal Commissioner/Ombudsman, Public Complaints Commission Nigeria in Imo State, Chief Mike Uzodinma, has said that inmates in Owerri Custodial Centre live under the most miserable conditions.
Uzodimma, said that the “Report on the System and Proactive Investigation Into the Welfare of Inmates in Correctional Centres in Nigeria” held betweem May 5 to 9 2023, revealed that most inmates held at the Owerri Correctional Facilities operate in most squalid and congested cells without adequate care.
The facility was attacked on April 5, 2021 by unknown gunmen and more than 1,400 inmates escaped.
The Ombudsman spoke at a One-Day Town Hall Meeting on the welfare of inmates in correctional centres organized by the Public Complaints Commission (the Nigerian Ombudsman) in Owerri.
According to him,: “This situation often lead to outbreak of diseases such as skin and respiratory infections”.
Uzodimma said that while the structures of the Housing area designed to accommodate 400 inmates now houses about 1,000 awaiting trail, inmates charged for minor offences are accommodated in the same cell with persons being tried for kidnapping or hostage taking.
The practice, he said not only bring about cross fertilization of criminal ideas but also produces more hardened inmates who head back to crime soon after serving out their terms and subsequently frustrate the efforts of security operatives in curtailing crime.
Shedding more lights on the report which he said emanated from investigation officers who interviewed relevant stakeholders on the general welfare and wellbeing of the inmates, Uzodimma said that apart from being grossly malnourished and pale, the inmates are compelled to eat weevil – infested beans, spoilt garri and watery soup, just as the clinic attached to the Establishment (NCS) is equally grossly inadequate to deal with the health challenges confronting them in terms of functional medicare and availability of drugs to prevent ailments such as malaria, typhoid and skin infections.
Decrying the deplorable sanitary condition of the centres and its dilapidated skill acquisition workshop, the PCC commissioner in his six (6) point recommendations reminded the Nigeria Correctional Services that the welfare of the inmates is essential for their survival hence international best practices should guide the conduct of its officers in dealing with the inmates.
The recommendations further states:
“As much as practicable, food items should be cooked by the donors to prevent diversion.
“The challenges associated with the dispensation of justice for minor offences involving the vulnerable persons in society such as the indigent young offenders and women with children would be tackled significantly and quickly when Magistrate Courts are sited within the environment of the correctional facility.
“The two correctional facilities located at Owerri and Okigwe are grossly inadequate for the safe keep of inmates. The establishment of more facilities would help decongest the existing over-crowded ones.
“Because stringent bail conditions worsen the fate of offenders, public-spirited individuals, Civil Society and Faith-based Organizations should regularly visit those remanded in correctional facilities and offer assistance with meeting bail conditions as much as they could.
“The intention is not to let inmates die in the correctional center. So, deliberate attention should be given to their medical needs, especially granting access to prompt, adequate and professional medical personnel, facility and sufficient drugs.
“Funding challenges are real but the challenge is not as much as in improved financial provisions as it is in the judicious use of funds.
“Regular visits by the prerogative of Mercy Committee for the grants of amnesty to deserving inmates should be brought to the kind attention of the Governor of Imo State for considerations.
“The aim of reintegration into the society should be taken very seriously. The National Directorate for Employment may need to deepen partnerships with the private sector players to reach out to inmates as an integral part of their mandate to empower the populace”.
–Chief Ombudsman of the Federation, Nigeria, Abimbola Ayo-Yusuf, who declared the meeting open said that it was in resolute pursuit of the humanitarian and oversight considerations of the Commission (PCC) to interface and publicly interact with relevant stakeholders to bring to the public domain, the plights and living conditions of the inmates.
He advised the participants to proffer a workable and enduring solutions to other myriads of problems and challenges such as reintegrating the inmates back into the larger society that would be devoid of threat or fight after fully serving their individual terms in prisons with little or total elimination of stigmatization thereafter.
“At this point, I want to reinforce that this can only be achieved technically if these affected persons are simultaneously equipped with the requisite and various vocational trainings and expertise while still serving their individual various jail terms in order to practically prepare them on how they could legitimately earn a living that is violence and crime free which will make them to be sufficiently self- dependent
The meeting with the theme “Systemic and Proactive Investigation Into The Welfare Of Inmates in Correctional Centre in Nigeria” attracted participants from various institutions, organizations, departments and agencies as well as past Commissioners of PCC, Traditional Rulers, Health Officers who made all submissions.
