Committee releases 110 prisoners in 2016

A total of 110 prisoners were released from various prisons in Kaduna State in 2016, as part of efforts to decongest the prisons, officials said on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that 75 of the prisoners were released by State Committee on Prisons Decongestion while 35 were pardoned by the state Chief Judge, Justice Tanimu Zailani.

Mrs Amina Sijuwade, Chairperson of the Committee on Prisons Decongestion, said they had released 75 inmates, out of whom 71 were men and four were women.

Sijuwade, who is also the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, said that the gesture would continue throughout 2017 and beyond.

Meanwhile, the Prison Comptroller in the state, Mr Yazid Alhassan, confirmed that 35 other inmates were released by the Chief Judge during his routine visits to prisons in the state.

Alhassan however said that prisons in the state were still congested in spite of ongoing efforts to decongest them.

“The Kaduna Central Prison for example was designed to accommodate only 450 inmates, but currently housed more than 1, 300 inmates and the number kept increasing by the day.

“In fact, some of the inmates have made the prisons their second home, because after serving their time, they returned again for one offence or the other.

“As funny as it may sound, some of the inmates return, particularly because they are sure of getting three square meal a day,’’ Alhassan said.

The controller disclosed that arrangement have been concluded to commence the training of inmates in various skills with the support of the state government.

He commended the state government for the gesture, stressing that the training would help in the character moulding of inmates and prevent the likelihood of relapse after release.

NAN recalls that the state government had in Oct. 2016, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Prison Service, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and Sahara Home of Fashion to offer skills training to inmates.

Sijuwade explained at the signing ceremony that the initiative was designed to support the Prison service in the rehabilitation of prisoners.

She explained that 700 inmates in Kaduna, Zaria and Kafanchan prisons would be trained annually on Information and Communications Technology, tailoring, carpentry, hair dressing and barbing annually.

“The idea is to empower the inmates with skills to cater for themselves while out of prison custody,’’ she said at the time.