KOGI, RIVERS, OTHERS.

AFEEZ HANAFI examines issues responsible for persistent attacks on correctional facilities and experts’ views on lasting measures to curb them

An American screenwriter and director, Paul Scheuring, would probably gross poor returns adapting Nigeria’s jailbreaks into a movie. Unlike his epic blockbuster, Prison Break, that unpacks the complexities of breaking into Fox River State Penitentiary, he might exhaust the storyline in less than a plot if he were to act out attacks on correctional centres in Edo, Imo, and Kogi states combined; no thanks to little or no restriction encountered by hoodlums who invaded these custodial facilities.

Though a fictional work, the movie series depicts the high level of security that goes into the architectural structure of any American prisons and how daunting it is to attack them.

Decrepit and poorly equipped, most of the Nigerian correctional centres contrast sharply with the standards in advanced countries, thereby making them vulnerable to frequent attacks.

“The prison attacks were caused by a combination of various factors,” a senior official of the Nigeria Correctional Service confided in our correspondent during the week.

From structural defects worsened by poor security features to acute shortage of armed personnel and weapons required to guard the facilities, the officer lamented the deepening level of vulnerability.

He said, “The prison walls are high enough but we need to reinforce them. They can be blown up with explosives. The perimeter fencing is not barbed to deter criminals from having direct access to the wall.

“The number of armed squads in the Service is small. It is just about 30 per cent of the total staff strength of the service. At least we should have close to 50 per cent. We also need more arms and ammunition and other equipment. If we need 10 items for instance and three are supplied, that is insufficient.”

A flood of attacks on correctional centres Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola In recent years, custodial facilities across the country have witnessed violent attacks with thousands of inmates including condemned criminals unlawfully released, thus compounding a myriad of security challenges facing the country.

While prison break is no longer alien to the Nigerian system, it has assumed a proportionally disturbing dimension since the nationwide October 2020 #EndSARS protests.

Leading the pack of the worrisome trend was the September 12 attack on the medium Security Custodial Centre in Kabba, Kogi State around 10.45pm. Gunmen laid siege to the facility and freed 240 inmates out of 294 prisoners in custody.

Although the Service claimed to have rearrested 114 escapees as of Tuesday, dangers posed by other fleeing inmates to already distressed members of the public are better imagined.

The danger was evident in the tragedy that trailed jailbreaks in two correctional facilities in Benin City, Edo State. Amid the violence that erupted from #EndSARS protests, hoodlums on October 19, 2020 attacked Oko and Benin correctional centres in the state, freeing 1,993 inmates.

Hours later, one of the escapees from the Oko Correctional Centre, reportedly killed the prosecution witness who testified during his trial. Parading the inmate, a former Commissioner of Police in the state, Babatunde Kokumo, said the suspect “ran back to his village on the same day to kill the victim.”

Kokumo also said escapees from the two correctional centres had been sending threat messages to policemen who investigated and prosecuted their cases. As of october 25, 2020, just 207 inmates had been rearrested or turned themselves in.

Three days after the Edo attacks, hoodlums broke into the NCoS centre in the Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State. They freed about 58 inmates, burnt vehicles and injured some officials. On the same day, assailants attempted to break into the Ikoyi Correctional Centre in Lagos but were repelled by a combined team of correctional officers and soldiers.

However, the foiled jailbreak was akin to postponing the evil day. The thugs had a field day less than six months later, on April 5, 2021.

At a massive scale described by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregebesola, as the worst in the recent history of the country, hoodlums broke into the correctional facility with explosives and dynamite and freed about 1844 inmates in an operation that lasted from 1am to 3am on Monday.

While the prison authorities were still hurting from the incident, another jailbreak rocked the Bauchi Custodial Centre on April 8. Days later, on April 14, inmates and officers were injured in a foiled attack on the Medium Security Custodial Centre Ubiaja, Edo State.

According to the spokesperson for the NCoS in Bauchi, Abubakar Algwallary, the attack, which left two officers of the service injured from gunshots, was fallout of the Owerri incident.

Giving an update on the Imo attack in May, the spokesperson for the state command of the Service, Goodluck Uboegbulam, said only 600 inmates had returned voluntarily to the centre.

The account sadly confirmed the agency’s helplessness born out of poor and ineffective strategies at arresting the fleeing inmates.

“Over 1,200 out of the 1,844 that fled from our custody are still at large. About 600 have either voluntarily returned or recaptured. But we are hopeful that many more will voluntarily return,” Uboegbulam had said.

Prior to 2020 when prison breaks took a turn for the worse, there had also been a couple of troubling cases. For instance, on June 3, 2018, armed men attacked the Medium Security Correctional Centre in the Tunga area of Minna, Niger State, freeing over 200 inmates. Only 28 were rearrested.

On August 9, 2016, at least 15 inmates at the Nsukka Correctional Centre in Enugu State broke out of their cells and escaped.

About a month earlier, on July 29, 2016, 13 inmates escaped during a jailbreak at the Koton/Karfe Correctional Centre in Kogi State.

Similarly, on June 24, 2016, two inmates awaiting trial escaped at the Kuje Medium Correctional Centre, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Going by the 12 cases highlighted above, about 4,365 inmates escaped from jailbreaks in five years – from June 24, 2016 to September 12, 2021 — of which around 949 were recaptured or returned voluntarily.

Although nine of the 12 attacks were successful while three were foiled, they all fit into the Longman Dictionary’s definition of jailbreak described as “an escape or an attempt to escape from prison, especially by several people.”

Pathetic as it appears, the NCoS Controller General, Haliru Nababa, painted a grimmer picture last month when the National Coordinator, National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, Maj. Gen. Abba Dikko (retd.), visited him.

Nababa was quoted in a statement by NCCSAWL’s Director, Strategic Communication and Information, Group Captain Ewejide Akintinde, that the Service suffered about 27 attacks on custodial facilities from 2009 till date. The current Kogi incident had ramped up the statistics.

The CG lamented that the custodial centres designed to keep felons out of circulation had unfortunately become targets of hoodlums often emboldened by easy access to arms and ammunition said to be in short supply to the facilities.

Much talk, less action Shortly after he resumed office, Nababa in August promised that his administration would aggressively combat security breaches, including drug trafficking and other acts of indiscipline at the custodial centres.

He disclosed that he had set up the CGC Monitoring Team to check unethical actions and practices by officers and inmates that could compromise the security architecture at the various correctional facilities across the country.

But one month into the promise he made at his inaugural meeting with senior officers at the NCoS headquarters in Abuja, gunmen struck again in Kogi, freeing 240 inmates in a custodial facility reportedly manned by a joint team of soldiers, warders and policemen.

But Nababa is not the only one complicit in the poor security management at the custidial centres. His predecessor, an acting CG, John Mrabure, is among the many culprits.

Mrabure had in a statement on April 14 by the NCoS mational spokesperson, Francis Enobore, said the Nigerian Army had accepted to assist the Service in giving refresher training to its armed squad personnel sequel to the spate of invasion of custodial centres by hoodlums.

The former acting CG was quoted to have, in a letter to the Chief of Army Staff, requested assistance in training the armed squad in the engagement of armed non-state actors, who had made jail attacks a regular act.

Enobore said the training would cover relevant tactical components to strengthen the capacity of the Service’s armed guards to engage invaders adequately and squarely.

Although Enobore told newsmen during the week that “the training has been going on and the first batch has graduated,” the measure was not enough to thwart the latest Kogi prison break.

Another factor attributed to recurrent jailbreaks is the country’s overcrowded correctional centres holding a large number of inmates awaiting trials.

In August 2017, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami at a press briefing in Abuja, said the Federal Government was determined to decongest prisons within the next two years.

By 2019, it was apparent that little or no result came out of Malami’s promise, prompting Aregbesola to reiterate it on October 23, 2019 following his appointment as the interior minister by the President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said a committee had started working with the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation with a view to decongesting correctional centres in six months.

Aregbesola had stated, “In no distant future, we will reduce the issue of awaiting trial considerably; as we are also working with the governors on that.

“Close to 90 per cent of the awaiting trial inmates are violators of state laws and so are essentially the responsibility of the various state governments. So, we need to carry them along in devising strategies to decongest the facilities. In six months, this will be put behind us.”

However, Enobore’s recent interview with our correspondent indicated that the number of awaiting trial inmates was still high.

“The attacks usually occurred where we have a large number of awaiting trial persons. In the Owerri attack, where we have over 1,800 inmates, 1,693 inmates are awaiting trial. In the Kabba incident, we have 294 persons in custody out of which 224 are awaiting trial.

“The push to get agitated and look for alternative means of leaving the facilities is higher where we have more awaiting trial inmates,” he disclosed.

Prison officials lament poor security measures Some official sources in correctional facilities across the country told our correspondent that the Buhari-led Federal Government paid less attention to the development of custodial centres.

An official based in Lagos, who spoke to newsmen on condition of anonymity, said the Service was grossly deficient in manpower and ill-equipped.

The source lamented, “The last recruitment the Service did was in 2017/2018 and 5,000 personnel were recruited. Officers keep retiring without new replacements. We need an adequate armed squad. The correctional service should be properly secured because of the calibre of people we deal with. Many of them are hardened criminals.

“If we have the resources, there should be at least 15 to 20 armed warders on the ground at any point in time. At times, we have only 10 available. It is the same armed squad who guard the prisons that lead inmates to courts. We also need more arms and ammunition as well as other equipment. If we need 10 items for instance and three is supplied, that is grossly insufficient.”

Another official told our correspondent that arms and ammunition were last supplied to the NCoS sometime in 2019 but were insufficient.

“The supply should be consistent. We don’t have enough arms and ammunition to repel attacks. When we exhaust the ammunition during an attack what can we do?” the official posed. “We need strong partnership with sister security agencies. If there is reinforcement, we will be able to repel the attack.”

A senior officer said the federal and state governments did not consider the NCoS as a critical component of security agencies, adding that the leadership of the Service should be included in security meetings.

He stated, “When the Federal Government calls for security meetings, the CG, correctional service is not invited. Though the minister of interior participates in the FEC meeting, there are a lot of agencies under him and he can’t talk about all of them.

“If the Federal Government allows the correctional service to participate in the security meetings, the state government will also be encouraged to involve prison controllers in the state Security Council meetings.”

Also, an official privy to security architecture of the correctional centres told our correspondent that the facilities were not only short of arms and ammunition but grossly lacked basic modern security apparatuses such as closed circuit televisions.

The source explained, “Some correctional centres have CCTVs but most of them are concentrated inside and cannot capture what is going on outside. They should be mounted on the perimeters to monitor external attacks.

“We have security towers but what is the essence of the towers when arms and ammunition are not sufficient to engage attackers? We also need a drone to carry out night patrol. The issue of awaiting trial inmates should also be looked into. Judiciary at both federal and state governments are involved and should look into it.”

Enobore admitted that the correction centres were short of personnel and lacked some vital security devices but was evasive on the inadequate supply of arms and ammunition.

He said the prison authorities would come up with measures to secure the facilities against further attacks.

Enobore said, “It is unfortunate that we have some heartless individuals who direct their anger at correctional facilities. We are trying to put in place both kinetic and non-kinetic measures to forestall the attack. Among the kinetic measures is collaboration between the service and other sister security agencies. We are also looking at recruiting more personnel so that we can have more official presence in the facilities.

“We want to establish a buffer zone of not less than 100 metres around all our facilities for proper screening of people and detection of enemies. The Federal Government is activating 3,000-capacity ultra-modern custodial centres across the six geopolitical zones.

“We hope that with the strength of the physical structure alone, we will be able to have reasonable resistance to any invaders. There are many other measures we are looking at and (installation of) CCTVs is part of them.”

Enobore further said that the agency would liaise more with the state governments on the need to speed up trials to decongest prisons, noting that efforts were being made to link the bio data of inmates with the database of the National Identity Management Commission.

He added, “Apart from the fact that it will discourage people from wanting to take illegal means of leaving custody, we will be able to track anyone who leaves.”

At a conference organised by the Order of the Knights of Saint Mulumba, Lagos Metropolitan Council, on Thursday, Aregbesola claimed that many custodial centres had been decongested through rehabilitation of inmates, as well as facilities across the country.

He said, “A total of 3,000 inmates are currently undergoing different degree programmes with the National Open University, while 50 are undergoing National Certificates in Education at Yewa College of Education, Ogun State. Presently, the NCS has 12 special study centres in different custodial facilities across the country. A total of 36 inmates have graduated in different fields of study such as Conflict and Peace Resolution, Political Science, Sociology, Guidance and Counseling, among others.”

Security experts condemn attacks, proffer solutions A security expert, Dickson Osajie, maintained that persistent attacks on correctional centres were troubling, urging that a state of emergency be declared against the leadership of the facilities.

Lamenting that the prison protection system was weak, Osajie advised the authorities to review the architectural designs of all correctional facilities in the country and put in place a physical protection system to fortify access to prisons.

He stated, “Comptrollers of prisons must be held accountable. There’s what is called layers of protection. Criminals need to pass through some stages before they get to inmates. The prison physical protection system must be fortified with a target hardening mechanism, so that attackers do not break the jail easily within a few minutes without resistance. Criminals don’t like delay; they operate with speed and momentum. Those layers of protection are a delay mechanism and it is detrimental to the success of their operations.

“They also need to look into prison security features such as CCTV and barbed wires in the perimeter fence. There should be CCTVs that can send a signal to the control system and alert the security agents that some criminals are about to break into the prison so that they can call for reinforcement.

“So, the prison leadership must look at crime detection, deterrence, delay, denial, and destruction. Physical, technological and mechanical applications must be administered. If the government adopts this system, then we shall rarely hear of prison break in Nigeria.”

A security analyst, Ben Okezie, said unlike in Nigeria, attacks on government institutions in developed climes were taken seriously with a series of evaluations carried out to unravel motives behind them and find lasting solutions.

He said rather than learn from the patterns of prison breaks and develop holistic measures of tackling them, the Nigerian government was more interested in adopting “the fire brigade approach.”

Okezie noted, “First off, are the prison institutions well equipped to provide protection for these facilities? In the states where they are located, what is the collaborative effort they have with the state governments? Are we still using analogue or have we gone digital in providing security? What is the quality of training provided for men meant to protect these facilities? Do the correctional facilities have CCTV to detect faces of the attackers? Those are the questions we need to answer.

“There is specialised training for officials who are supposed to protect correctional facilities but we don’t have such. Until we do the right thing, we are still going to have more jailbreaks.

“The criminals study what you have and come for you. You just brought policemen, soldiers, NSCDC officials to man a facility; they have different training. Except they have coordinated training to protect such facilities, we are still going to have problems. Also the government at all levels must address the high unemployment rate in the country.”

In a similar vein, the National President of Criminology and Security Practitioners Association of Nigeria, Williams Ekposon, said incessant attacks on prisons demanded that, beyond the structural review and equipment of the facilities, the government must engage all the relevant stakeholders.

“Prison attacks are characteristic of organised guerrilla warfare. It calls for attention to ask a series of questions. Government should call for dialogues and have a listening ear. They should meet with stakeholders to know the motive of the criminals and how it can be addressed. Some of the attacks have political undertones.”

A security consultant and former director, Department of State Services, Mike Ejiofor, also observed that jailbreaks portend serious dangers, adding that some of the inmates released were hardened criminals posing major threats to national security.

He decried the deplorable condition of prison infrastructures, noting that some of them built during the colonial period required major upgrades.

The expert said, “The Service does not have the means to strengthen access control and because these facilities are vulnerable, criminals explore their vulnerability. There must be a major upgrade of our correctional facilities. The facilities are overcrowded.

“There is a need to review the judicial process by speeding up trials or releasing those who have no case to answer on bail. The Service does not even have enough manpower and the officials are not well armed to curtail the attacks.”