COVID-19: How FG plans to prevent spread among inmates

It is no longer news that the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is rapidly spreading in Nigeria, just as there are serious concerns over the increasing number of awaiting trial inmates in the Nigerian Correctional Centres (NCC) nationwide. For inmates, the pandemic may yet be another catastrophe against which the criminal justice system may fail to protect […]

It is no longer news that the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is rapidly spreading in Nigeria, just as there are serious concerns over the increasing number of awaiting trial inmates in the Nigerian Correctional Centres (NCC) nationwide.

For inmates, the pandemic may yet be another catastrophe against which the criminal justice system may fail to protect them.

The prisoners often share overcrowded cells and do not have a realistic option to stand two meters from one another. The strained and already precarious healthcare resources would not stand a chance under the weight of Covid-19.

The Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019 signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari in August, 2019, makes robust provisions to contain congestion, just as it provides for non-custodial sentencing and community service.

The acting spokesman of NCS, Augustine Chukwudi, in a chat with our correspondent yesterday, said there were no fewer than 72,000 inmates in the NCC, adding that about 51,000 were awaiting trial who were seeking justice. Among this number, some have been incarcerated for periods longer than they would have stayed in prison if found guilty.

When Daily Trust visited the Kirikiri and Ikoyi Correctional Centres in Lagos, the number of inmates in the facilities were unbelievable, as the facilities were being overstretched. It was gathered that the same is applicable in every NCC facility nationwide.

It was gathered that Mr. Ja’afaru Ahmed, the Comptroller General of NCS, has been taking proactive steps, hence there has been no cases of COVID-19, Lassa fever and other diseases in the facilities.

As at the time of filing in this report, there was no single case of COVID-19 among NCS staff and inmates.

It was further gathered that he is in touch with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Ministry of Health and other relevant agencies as part of effort in the prevention of the spread of Covid19.

According to the NCS spokesman, visitors were no longer allowed to visit inmates and that every form of body contact between inmates and visitors had been barred no matter their relationship.

A source told Daily Trust that medical and health officers were on alert always and would withdraw any sick inmate for screening and possible isolation at the designated isolation unit in each custodial centre. Such inmates could further be transferred to state isolation centers.

However, Deputy Director, Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), Ms. Ogechi Ogu, has called on the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to quickly collate data on petty offenders and ensure that such persons were released from custodial centres immediately.

Ms. Ogu also called for the release of the aged, terminally ill prisoners and maybe pregnant inmates, and also urged NCS to put measures in place for electronic communication between inmates and families.

According to her, people in detention were more vulnerable to the virus and at a higher risk of contracting and passing on the virus due to a lack of hygiene in crowded cells.

She said, “Availability of soap and hand sanitisers is also a big issue. Sanitisers may also fall in the category of items that are contraband because of its alcohol content and combustible nature.”

She further said it was illegal to detain petty offenders in the first place; and that Parts 44 and 45 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (2015) and Part 2 of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act (2019) already made provisions for the utilisation of non-custodial measures for petty/minor offences.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Attorney General, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) has directed the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) to discontinue with 566 cases being prosecuted by the police in various Lagos courts.