FG Set To Decongest Correctional Facilities

The Federal Government through the Nigerian Prison Service authority has disclosed that renovation and expansion of custodial centres across the country is currently ongoing to ensure decongestion.

Public Relations Officer of the Service, Abubakar Umar said this in an interview on Friday in Abuja.

According to NAN, Umar explained that the issue of decongestion would be minimised with the step the federal government had taken in ensuring the facilities were in good shape.

According to him, we are increasing the capacity of our custodial facilities nationwide.

“Presently, the service is also constructing six new ultra-modern custodial centres with 3,000 capacity in each of the geo-political zones of Nigeria.

“Presently, the service is also constructing six new ultra-modern custodial centres with 3,000 capacity in each of the geo-political zones of Nigeria.

He noted that the introduction of non-custodial sanctions such as parole, probation, community service, restorative justice, suspended sentence, among others, had diverted some of the offenders who would have been in custody.

He added that offenders with minor offences were rather sent on community supervision, adding that with this, custodial facilities were freed of the numbers.

“There are other efforts which we are applying in decongesting our facilities such as encouraging regular jail delivery, pushing for clemency for offenders who qualify for it, and capacity building.

“Also, the NCoS Act 2019 in Section 12, sub-section 8, empowers the Controller of Corrections in conjunction with the Officer-in-Charge of the custodial centre to reject intake of offenders when it is apparent that the facility is filled to capacity.