Suleja jailbreak: FG to publish names of 105 fleeing inmates, re-arrests 14
• Govt considers relocating Suleja prison • Holding capacity by 99.9%
• Minister: Facility meant for 250 inmates housed 499
• U.S. report slams Nigeria for inhumane conditions, diseases in prisons
A total of 14 fleeing inmates have so far been recaptured from the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre in Niger State. Following the escape of 119 inmates from the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Suleja, after a heavy and windy downpour on Wednesday night that resulted in extensive damage to the facility, the Federal Government is amassing support from security agencies to recapture the fleeing escapees.
This is as the Federal Government said it is considering relocating the correctional facility, while the facility management said it would publish the names and pictures of the escaped inmates.
During a visit to the centre on Thursday, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, revealed that the facility houses 499 inmates, as opposed to the expected 250 that it was initially built for.
A spokesperson for the Federal Capital Territory Command of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Adamu Duza, disclosed that 14 of the fleeing inmates had been re-arrested. The downpour caused severe damage to the custodial centre’s infrastructure, including a breach in the perimeter fence, allowing inmates to flee.
The Minister, after surveying the damage caused by the severe downpour, highlighted the urgent need for reforms in over 240 custodial centres nationwide. Tunji-Ojo pledged the Federal Government’s determination to bring the remaining fleeing inmates back into custody.
However, giving the latest updates, Duza said: “Our intelligence officers, armed squadron officers, in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force, DSS, and other security agencies, are combing neighbouring communities to find the fleeing inmates. 14 fleeing inmates have been recaptured so far. The search is still going on,” adding that their database would soon be made known to the public.
The Minister who lamented that there were some gaps in the reporting line at the centre, said the situation could have been avoided if the right information had been passed to the right channel on time.
“There was a breach on the outer wall of this facility and some of the inmates escaped. We were able to recapture 14 out of the 119 that escaped, so now we have 105 at large and the manhunt is presently ongoing and we will do everything humanly possible to make sure that everyone is brought in,” he said.
Tunji-Ojo further said the 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 regard to the structure and others
“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.
He pointed out that President Bola Tinubu has been concerned about urbanisation reaching into areas with custodial centres hence, there is a need to relocate some of them from the city centres for better security.
“There are a lot of things that I will not be able to say on camera with regards to the correctional centres, the reporting lines and other issues but we will handle those things behind the scenes. We are not here to make excuses, but to take responsibility because we were elected to do the job and that job will be done.
“This is a facility built to hold 250 inmates. Before the incident, we had 499 inmates here. This gives credence to our concern over overcrowding in our correctional centres.”
An official of the Nigerian Correctional Service, (NCoS), who spoke to our reporter on condition of anonymity, said the wall that fell was built to shore up the perimeter fencing but the materials used were substandard.
According to the source, the reason the walls fell during the heavy rainfall was that almost all the materials used, including sand and blocks were substandard despite observations identified and pointed out to some of the superior officers.
MEANWHILE, conditions at the nation’s prisons and detention centres are harsh and life-threatening due to gross overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and food and water shortages, a new report by the United States government has said.
The report titled, ‘2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Nigeria.’ was published by the U.S. Department of State on Wednesday. According to the report, overcrowding is a major problem in Nigerian prisons, as of September, prison facilities had 50 per cent more inmates than designed capacity. Many prisons were constructed 70 to 80 years ago during colonial rule and lacked basic facilities. Some prisons had no facilities to care for pregnant women or nursing inmates.
“Lack of potable water, inadequate sewage facilities, and overcrowding sometimes resulted in dangerous and unsanitary conditions.
“Disease was pervasive in cramped, poorly ventilated prison facilities, which had chronic shortages of medical supplies. Inadequate medical treatment caused some prisoners to die from treatable illnesses, such as HIV and AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis,” the report noted.
“Only prisoners with money or support from their families had sufficient food. Prison employees sometimes steal money provided for prisoners’ food. Poor inmates sometimes rely on handouts from others to survive. Prison employees, police, and other security force personnel sometimes deny inmates food and medical treatment to punish them or extort money,” it added.
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