By Gift Habib
No fewer than 4,204 persons were sent to the custodial facilities of the Nigerian Correctional Service nationwide in the last four months.
This is according to data from the website of the NCoS, checked by our correspondent on Sunday.
The website showed an increase of 4,204 in the number of inmates between April and July.
On April 17, 2023, the number of inmates in the nation’s 244 custodial centres was 74,872.
A check on Sunday showed the current number of inmates was 79,076.
Of that figure, 54,171 inmates are awaiting trial; while 24,905 had been convicted.
The data also revealed that 24,461 of the convicts were males while 444 were females.
A security expert, Chidi Omeje, said the spike in the number of inmates suggested an increase in the crime rate in the country, noting that it could be linked to the rising poverty in the land.
Omeje noted “The data imply that there is a spike in criminality.
“I will blame this on bad governance because it gives rise to poverty which leads to criminality. Across the states, governors are interested more in buying luxury cars, among others. All the geopolitical zones are facing terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, or attacks on maritime assets.”
The Coordinator, Social Justice and Prison Welfare, Ogonna Okeke, decried the huge population of inmates, saying it is to be blamed on the slow justice administration in the country.
Okeke explained, “Our judicial system is quite slow. Cases linger in our court endlessly; we have inmates awaiting trial for four years, and 10 years and some even await trial for years longer than the sentence prescribed for the crime for which they were charged.
“There are issues of trials starting de novo when a judge retires, dies or is transferred. Imagine a case that has been on for three years and the judge dies or retires, the case will start afresh. There are also cases of missing court records and files because of the manual processes, which also slows down a case.”
She advocated the use of non-custodial sentencing for minor offences.
“People do not need to be incarcerated for petty crimes. Community services, parole, probation and others should also be adopted,” Okeke said.
Source: The Punch
