Correctional centres still in bad condition – Visitation panel

A federal government visitation panel on correctional centres nationwide has said the conditions of the facilities and inmates are still bad. The visitation panel headed by Olawale Fapohunda (SAN) revealed that most inmates are languishing in prisons due to lack of legal representation and the inability of the Legal Aid Council to cope with the […]

A federal government visitation panel on correctional centres nationwide has said the conditions of the facilities and inmates are still bad.

The visitation panel headed by Olawale Fapohunda (SAN) revealed that most inmates are languishing in prisons due to lack of legal representation and the inability of the Legal Aid Council to cope with the huge number of cases.

Submitting the report of the panel to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) on Wednesday, Fapohunda said that while auditing the correctional centres, they had interfaced with different categories of inmates and found their conditions unpalatable.

Besides lack of legal representation, Fapohunda said most of the inmates are suffering ailments that the prison authorities could not bear the cost of medication.

He said the panel met several detainees, including terrorism suspects, who have never been taken to court for 10 years.

“There were those inmates in remand for non capital offences who, after being arraigned, their cases were caught up by the slow judicial process and would require the active intervention of the state ministries of justice,” he said.

“The HAGF is invited to note that although the legal aid council of Nigeria is mandated to provide free legal services to inmates without legal representation, it is presently under resourced and thus barely able to make a significant difference.