Condition of inmates at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison in Lagos may have deteriorated to the level that starving prisoners now allegedly reject the food they are given due to its terrible quality, Saturday PUNCH has learnt.
A source in the prison told our correspondent that the condition of the cells and medical services in the prison had become appalling.
“The prison food is so bad that it is often rejected by starving prisoners,” the source said.
He explained that Boko Haram suspects in the prison are subjected to horrendous treatment by officials of the prison, saying, “They are treated like prisoners on death row.”
The incarceration of Boko Haram suspects in Kirikiri comes as a surprise since the Federal Government had in April 2012 denied that terror suspects were being held in the prison.
Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, had reacted to a report at the time that there was a secret detention facility used to hold suspected members of the terrorist group.
“To the best of my knowledge, there is no such thing. The prisons in Lagos are full already and we are not contemplating any movement of terror suspects to anywhere,” he said.
Spokesperson for the Nigerian Prisons Service, Kayode Odeyemi, had also stated at the time that there was no plan to move Boko Haram suspects to prisons in Lagos.
But Saturday PUNCH learnt that even though there are about 700 inmates in the prison, there is only one doctor in the prison clinic.
“The prison does not have a doctor on 24-hour call. The doctor comes in once in a while, perhaps once in a week. Once prisoners are locked in, warders do not respond to any cries for help. No medical emergency calls are entertained.
“People with psychiatric problems are refused referrals by the prison doctor. The prison medical facility has no drugs. The cells are choked with inmates. Prisoners fuel and maintain the prison generators. Some inmates awaiting trial are placed in the same cells with condemned prisoners,” a source said.
It was learnt that the condemned former Chief Security Officer to the late Gen. Sani Abacha, Major Hamza al-Mustapha, has been the one taking care of the needs of some of the inmates.
An investigation showed that al-Mustapha fixed some cells with fans because of the unbearable room temperature and also renovated the tennis court in the prison.
There have been allegations that visitors have to pay bribes before they can be allowed to see inmates while wives of warders are said to be involved in all manners of supply contracts in the prison.
However, spokesperson for the NPS in Lagos, Mr. Biyi Jeje, said there was no truth in the allegations.
He told our correspondent that the quality of the food given to inmates conforms to the approved specification. He added that no prisoner rejects food in the prison.
Jeje said, “Boko Haram suspects are not treated as if they are already condemned in the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison. Why would our officials do that when we are only their custodians? The Federal Government is the one handling their cases. Our responsibility is to treat them like any other suspect.
“Whoever tells you that al-Mustapha is the one who has been taking care of the welfare of some inmates is just lying. The tennis court you mentioned has been in the prison for about seven years.
“About the fans said to have been fitted in the cells by al-Mustapha, I can tell you categorically that it is not true. He has not provided fans in any cell. If they said he is personally using a fan, that would have been another matter.”
Jeje added that the prison has a standard hospital and not a clinic. He said there were doctors and nurses working there and attending to inmates with health issues.
On the allegation of supply contracts handled by the wives of warders at the prison, he said there is a law against bringing unapproved items into the prison.
“The Nigerian Prison Service is very serious about this. So, it cannot be condoned in Kirikiri,” he said
Punch
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Nigerian prisons needs to be rebuilt entirely. Its a shame that our prisons are nothing more than colonial lockup sheds. People pray for death rather than enter into the four walls of a Nigerian prison although its a death sentence of sorts because you are lucky if you come out alive once you are in.
ReplyDeletePolitics is really a dirty game. If allegations are made, officials are quick to comdemn it as false without verifying the claim. The bottom line is that you never know who is right and who is wrong. Its a pity when you can never trust what the people in power say or do.
ReplyDelete