NAN-DS-10
Warders
By Muhyideen Jimoh
Lagos, March 2, 2017 (NAN) The Controller-General, Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), Mr Ahmed Ja’faru, has said that male warders do not have access to female prisons in the country.
Ja’afaru disclosed this on Thursday in Lagos at a workshop on prison reforms organised by the Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO).
Represented by Mr Joseph Usendiah, Controller of Prisons, zone A, Ja’faru, said that the clarification became necessary due to insinuations that some male warders were taking advantage of female inmates.
He said that the female prisons were located separately from the male prisons and solely managed by female prison officials.
Ja’afaru said that Nigerian prisons were being re-positioned in line with international best practice in spite of inadequate funding.
He urged all stakeholders involved in the administration of criminal justice system to fast-track the process of awaiting trial inmates as part of efforts to de-congest the prisons.
He said that about 80 per cent of inmates in most Nigerian prisons were awaiting trial and stressed the need for this to be urgently redressed.
Ja’afaru said that the recent reforms in the prisons were responsible for the reduction in the number of jail breaks in the country.
Earlier, the acting Executive Director, PRAWA, Mr Yinka Lawal, stressed the need for a process to expedite the release of detained persons with no established case to answer.
Lawal said the three day-workshop was meant to help in reforming prisons in the country and train journalists on coverage of affairs of the prisons.(NAN)
MUYI/JPE/AMY
Edited by Joseph Edeh/Abdullahi Yusuf
================