Ndaekong, who disclosed this in Calabar when he led a delegation on courtesy visit to Governor Ben Ayade, said out of total number of 1,160 inmates in all the prisons only 254 were convicted, with 46 condemned to death.
The governor also received the Commander of the 305 Special Mobility Group, Nigerian Air Force, Wing Commander Hussein Idris, the state commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mr. Alero Usman and the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr. Chidi Nkwonta, in separate visits.
However, during his visit, Ndaekong said that all the six locations were operating far beyond their capacity.
Ndaekong said, “Calabar prisons as at this morning has up to 842 inmates as against capacity of 450 and covers 7 local government areas. The poor scenario is applicable to all the prisons in Cross River State where each of the prisons covers at least 2 to 3 local government areas a day.
“A total of 854 out of 1,160 inmates are on awaiting trial while 254 were convicted with 46 condemned. Of this number, 32.7 per cent were charged for murder, 27.7 per cent for armed robbery, 8.9 per cent for ordinary robbery, five per cent for unlawful possession of firearms, 20.2 per cent for ordinary stealing, 4.3 per cent for assault and 1.2 per cent for other offences.”
Ndaekong sought the state’s support in the provision of ambulances, operational vehicles, inclusion in the state security council and tools to teach inmates basic skills to fulfil its mandate.
In his response, Ayade called for an overhaul of the Nigerian Prison System to position it as a government parastatal that drives reformation and productivity.
He said the country should borrow a leaf from the prison system of the United States which drives productivity.
“There is an urgent need for the reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration process. Unfortunately these processes which are natural sociological pathway towards reformation now comes with the challenge of funding.
“In America, Prison service is the hottest business. Any remote part of America that they want development to move in, they set up a prison.”
Ayade, who described the statistics of prisons inmates in the state as presented by Ndaekong as scary and worrisome, said the state would review all awaiting trial cases with a view to exercising the powers of prerogative of mercy on the innocent.
In this article: