Simon Utebor, Yenagoa
A rights group, Patriotic Citizens of Nigeria, has lamented the congestion and the continued incarceration of accused persons with bailable offences at the Okaka Prison, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
PACON, supported by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Bayelsa State Council, Ijaw Women Connect and Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative, expressed the concern during a visit to the medium detention facility to donate food items, toiletries and footwear, among others, to the inmates.
The prison, opened in April 2013 by former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, was built to accommodate 300 inmates.
But findings on Thursday revealed that the prison is now being occupied by no fewer than 588 inmates.
It was gathered that of the 588 persons in the detention facility, 550 persons were awaiting trial inmates while only 38 persons had been convicted.
Besides the challenge of congestion, the five-year-old prison lack facilities for sporting, training, and skills acquisition, among others, for the inmates.
During the visit, officials of the PACON including Ebikebuna Aluzu and Nehemiah Ayogwe, convener and head of its legal team, respectively, lamented the congestion and the continued detention of suspects with bailable offences at the prison.
Aluzu said the non-governmental organisation and its partners would collaborate to decongest the prison by perfecting the bail conditions of 30 inmates who had been granted bail.
He also called on the government and the society not to discriminate against those that had served jail terms, saying that ex-convicts could also contribute meaningfully to national development.
Aluzu said, ‘’Some people do not commit any crime, some people were just working on the way and they were caught and put in prison. Some people complained that their family members are not even aware of them being there.
‘’Some people say they have called on their people but they refused to come. So, we have come to give them hope. We have collected their names. Those 30 persons we have got their names, their details, their parents and relative details so we can work towards it and give them bail. ‘The government should also look for ways to absorb these people when they finish serving their jail terms and come out of the prison.’’
Corroborating Aluzu, PACON’s legal adviser, Ayogwe, said their mission was to see how they could help to decongest the prison, see how they could take care of those awaiting trial as well as those who had been granted bail but their bail conditions had not been perfected.
“We will work as fast as we can to perfect those ones that have been given to us and come back again to get more list and see how we can perfect their bail conditions. That way, I believe we can reduce the number of awaiting trial inmates.’’
President of the IWC, Elizabeth Diya, described the condition of the inmates as pathetic and inhuman, stressing that PACON and its partners would not relent in their mission to better the lives of prisoners.
In his remarks, Controller of Prisons, Bayelsa State, Mr. Chiabua Uche, commended PACON and its partners for their kind gesture to the inmates.
Uche said, ‘’The humanitarian service to the Okaka Prison is commendable. We call on the public to give more support to the prison services.
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