Carmelite Prisoners’ Interest Organisation (CAPIO), an NGO, has called on both the Federal and state governments to decongest Correctional Service Custodial Centres in the country as part of measures to fight the Coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic.
Rev. Father Ambrose Ekeroku, the Executive Director of CAPIO, made the call during a COVID-19 sensitisation and donation of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), FCT Command, Abuja.
“It is important to note that if the virus find its way into custodial centres across the country, it will be difficult and near impossible to control.
So, government and other stakeholders must include correctional centers in their COVID-19 intervention plans,” he said.
According to him, the COVID-19 global pandemic is quickly spreading through Nigeria due to some factors including overcrowding in public places such as markets, banking halls, religious centres, residences among others.
Ekeroku noted that wardens in various Custodial Centres had reached out to CAPIO requesting assistance, saying that the PPEs would enable them to stay free of the COVID-19 disease.
He said that CAPIO’s intervention was intended to protect correctional officers in FCT and Enugu State Commands of NCoS.He added that the intervention would ensure that workers, who live in the wider society, stay safe so as not to be a route through which the pandemic could sneak into the correctional centres.
Ekeroku explained that CAPIO was focusing on where it is currently based for its intervention due to the lockdown as it could not easily implement its schemes in other state commands.
“We believe that preventive measures are still the best and most effective ways of combating the virus but decongesting custodial centres will go a long way in fighting the scourge.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has heeded our earlier call urging him to decongest the correctional centres. Not long ago, he announced amnesty for 2,600 inmates across the country.
“However, this number cannot significantly decongest custodial centres as 80 per cent of inmates in the country are Awaiting Trial Persons (ATPs) who were not considered for release.
“Less than 3 per cent of inmates were beneficiaries of that exercise.
Therefore, the need exists to assist the facilities with all necessary resources to ensure they stay free of COVID-19,” he said.
Ekeroku called on state governors, who had not embarked on the amnesty programme as announced by the President, to do so immediately.
He urged Chief Judges to use the opportunity to also embark on jail delivery exercises to release deserving inmates, especially those on the ATPs list.
“This will also serve as a means of decongesting the custodial centres and prevent the spread of the virus.
“Since custodial centres are closed to the public, the two main ways the infection can spread are through correctional officers who work in the facilities or from newly detained individuals.
“This is likely because the incidence of crime has increased significantly in many cities since the lockdown began in March, 2020,” he said.
The CAPIO boss appreciated the Controller General, NCoS, Mr Ja’afaru Ahmed, for fostering the collaboration and support towards presentations of the items.
Ekeroku called on well-meaning Nigerians and development partners to continue to support CAPIO to enable it to reach out to all the NCoS commands in Nigeria to keep inmates and staff free of COVID-19.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that PPE items donated to the command included re-usable face masks, sanitisers, infrared thermometers, toilets soaps, hand gloves and sachet water.
Receiving the items, the Controller of Correctional Centres, FCT Command, Mr Mustapha Illiyasu-Atta, assured the NGO that the donated items would be used for its purpose, adding that they would go a long way to prevent contraction and transmission of the virus. (NAN)
