The Plateau command of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) says there are 129 inmates currently on death row in various custodial centres in the state. 

ASC Godfrey Longdiem, the command’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), disclosed this in an interview with journalists on Sunday in Jos. 

According to Mr Longdiem, the figure consists of 128 males and one female.

He also added that 700 inmates are awaiting trial in various prison facilities across the state.

“We also have 700 inmates awaiting trial in our various facilities, consisting of 691 males and nine females,” Mr Longdiem further explained. 

He mentioned that 55 were convicted for short terms, 192 serving long term sentences, and 49 serving life sentences, with no minors among them.

Also speaking in Jos, Steve Aluko, the executive director of Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), decried the dearth in prison facilities, calling for reforms in the sector.

Mr Aluko stressed that custodial centres all over Nigeria were in dire need of a total overhaul, given the deteriorating condition of the country’s correctional centres.

“This is given the deteriorating condition of the country’s correctional centres that have featured more inmates awaiting trial than those actually convicted,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Taraba, stakeholders claimed there were no inmates on death row in the state’s correctional facilities. 

However, they decried the high number of those incarcerated in the centres, calling for the restoration of their human dignity. 

Aminu Mohammed, a legal practitioner, told journalists that there were no death row inmates because those convicted of capital offences such as murder were serving life sentences as the maximum punishment.

Mr Mohammed, however, said this had contributed to the high number of inmates, especially those awaiting trial, making the correctional centres in Taraba unsuitable for human habitation. 

He called for increased manpower on the bench and judicial independence to ensure there were more judges and magistrates, as well as adequate funds to ensure the quick dispensation of cases, in order to decongest correctional centres.

Efforts to confirm from NCoS officials in Jalingo that there were no death row inmates in correctional centres in Taraba proved abortive, as the PRO, Ken Nnanna, declined comment, saying she was not authorised to speak on the matter.

Raymond Ibrahim, the executive director of the Centre for Justice and Development, an NGO, described the centres as dilapidated, overcrowded, and with terrible living conditions that fall short of places for human habitation.

 He suggested that the electronic system of justice dispensation was the way out, emphasising the slow pace of justice dispensation in the country.

While commending the few judges that had started writing and delivering judgments virtually, Mr Ibrahim called on the government to support a full transition from analogue to digital justice dispensation to ensure speedy and efficient dispensation of justice and decongestion of correctional centres.

Bridget Jonathan, also a legal practitioner, suggested the use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to prevent every case from being taken to court as part of measures to decongest correctional centres.

Mrs Jonathan urged the government to support traditional rulers in strengthening alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in communities 

(NAN)