About 70 per cent of prison inmates are awaiting trial, the Prison Fellowship Nigeria (PFN) Secretary-General Jacob Tsado, has said.
Speaking with reporters during the group’s Family Week/Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Mowe, Ogun State, Tsado called for a review of the criminal justice system.
He said: “Our justice system is tilted against the victim. Justice is done when harmony is restored. We have inmates whose files are lost; they have no lawyers and on the day they are to appear, the Black Maria vehicle refuses to work because either it has no fuel or it is not in good working condition.
“So, the court has to adjourn the case. You can imagine someone who had waited for four months for his case and on that day, the case is adjourned for the above reasons. That is why in Prison Fellowship, we have become the voice for the voiceless.”
The scribe said the Week was aimed at stocking and equipping PFN members spiritually and morally for the tasks ahead.
“The popular saying is: ‘You can’t give what you don’t have.’ To give to prisoners, we need to be imparted by the power of God and to acquire relevant skills and capacities for prison ministries. For people to be engaged in the system, they need to be taught certain things for us to go out and spread the good news to engage people in criminal justice.’’
He noted that PFN is specialised non-governmental organisation (NGO) involved in security, criminal justice and the law.
To tackle the problems of those on the awaiting trial list, Tsado said his group was partnering the Lagos State government on the adoption of the restorative justice system, adding that is signed an memorandum of understanding with the government.
He said the system would promote harmony, peace, development and reintegration of offenders to the society.’’ It is good for communal progress,’’ he added.
The group’s Chair Dorcas Din appealed to the government and individuals to assist body to build its centrein Abuja to train newly released inmates before they are enter the society. She said the group has acquired land for the centre but had not been able to develop it.
She urged the government to rehabilitate the prisons, saying many of them have dilapidated facilities.
PFN’s Executive Director Ben Iwuagwu, a lawyer, urged all political leaders to assist in reforming the prisons. He said the prisons should serve as reformative centres. He said it was wrong to make them punitive, adding that our leaders have a responsibility to the downtrodden, especially those in the prisons in this regard.
The Nation
