Those who should know, say the country’s prisons suffer from three key ailments: dilapidation, poor facilities and congestion. They believe this was caused by the failure of relevant agencies to effectively perform their roles over the years. This failure, they say, has transformed the prisons to “deformatory” institutions as against their intended role of “reformatory.” The need to reverse this state of affairs engaged stakeholders in the Benue State criminal justice system, at a stakeholders’ meeting in Makurdi recently. The meeting was part of a series of activities organised by a group – Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE-Nigeria). It involved a four-day tour of prisons in Benue by CURE and officials of the United States Embassy in Nigeria, among others. The tour, which lasted between May 29 and July 1, saw the visitors present books, furniture and writing boards. They also donated a 28-inch television set, power generator, reading tables and other materials worth over $10,000 for the setting up of libraries in Makurdi, Otukpo and Gboko prisons and the Children Remand Home in Gboko. Moved by the state of gross infrastructure deficit at the Juvenile Remand home in Gboko, the visitors wondered how a state, with a government in place, could abandon such a facility meant to reform its future generation. On July 1, participants from the Nigerian Prison Service, office of the Attorney-General, the police, civil society organisations and the US Embassy, examined issues identified during the tour. One of these issues is the non-domestication of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) in Benue. Many of the participants noted that this had deprived the state of the benefits of the many innovative provisions of the Act that aids swift determination of criminal cases in jurisdictions where the law operates. They also considered the problems of prison congestion, lack of rehabilitation and reintegration programmes and inadequate vehicles to convey inmates to courts. Others were arbitrary arrest and detention of people, violation of human rights of suspects, long court adjournments, among others. Benue State Chief Judge, Justice Iorhemen Hwande said there was need for commitment on the part of the relevant agencies to ensure a total overhaul of the criminal justice system to allow for better performance. Justice Hwande said the state’s Attorney General informed him that the process leading to the domestication of the ACJ Act was at an advance stage. On the issue of lack access to lawyers for inmates, the CJ said he had directed that inmates without lawyers should be assigned lawyers by the judges handling the cases. He regretted that inmates sometimes frustrate efforts to assign lawyers to them by supplying false information to their lawyers, thereby making legal service for inmates difficult. He promised to strengthen the process through enlightenment. CURE Executive Director, Sylvester Uhaa decried the absence of Black Maria vehicles to convey inmates to court, citing the example of Makurdi Prison “with only one bus to convey inmates to courts.” Uhaa also observed the unfortunate lack of medication as well as personnel in prison clinics, a situation he blamed for cases of avoidable deaths among inmates. He urged prison authorities to ensure the transfer of prisoners, who suffer from mental illness, to hospital, “because they are not supposed to be in prison.” Director, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, US Embassy in Nigeria, Roselyn Wiese expressed discomfort at the rising number of awaiting trial inmates in Nigerian prisons and the perennial delay in the justice dispensation process. She urged Justice Hwande to learn from the examples of Lagos and Kano states where the office of the Public Prosecutor is established to accelerate access to justice. Ms. Wiese assured of her home government’s support to Benue State in the area of prison reform, particularly as it relates to education programmes. She urged the government to double its effort in ensuring an effective criminal justice system.]]>
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