Several inmates inside a Lagos prison have been said to have suffered a horrific fate as new revelation emerges on the matter.
File photo: A Nigerian prison
Mr Olumide Tinuoye, the Lagos State controller of prison, has
attributed the death of 32 prison inmates who died in one year in a
particular prison in the state to their inability to access funds for
good medication, Vanguard reports.
He however did not mention te affected prison.
This was coming as the State Attorney General and Commissioner for
Justice, Mr Adeniji Kazeem disclosed that the government has set up a
committee led by the Director, Office of the Public Defender, OPD, Mrs
Salami to review the cases of awaiting trials with a view to ensure that
inmates don’t continue to stay in prison unjustly or die in the process
of waiting for trial.
Mr. Tinuoye who disclosed the appalling state of health facilities
in the prisons said often times, prison officials use their personal
money to buy drugs for the inmates, while others live on the
philanthropic gestures of churches and mosques which have been assisting
in providing medications for the inmates.
The controller of prisons made the revelations when the Prerogative
of Mercy Committee led by the State Attorney General visited the Ikoyi
and Kirikiri prisons on a fact finding mission to access and have a
first-hand information of the conditions under which the inmates live.
Apart from fact finding mission, the visit was to determine what
measures could be put in place to improve the condition of the prisons
in the state.
Tinuoye, who expressed his appreciations for the fact finding
mission, noted the prisons also lost one female inmate to death last
month after being on dialysis for over two years.
He stated that there are 7,714 inmates in all the prisons across
the state, with 6,047 awaiting trial, 1,390 convicted, 202 already
condemned while 75 are serving life sentences.
According to him, Ikoyi prisons which has a capacity of 800
presently has a total of 2,508 inmates, 461 of which are convicted and
2,047 while Kirikiri Medium prisons with a capacity of 1,700 has 2,979
inmates out of which 2,634 are awaiting trials while 345 are convicted
inmates.
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