Crime
JULIUS Ezugwu, Controller of Corrections, Abia Command, has appealed to the state government to become an integral part of the new correctional reform and assist the centre with escort vehicles for inmates.
Ezugwu, who made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia on Wednesday, said it would enable the centre to safely transport inmates to court.
He regretted that the state government gave out vehicles to other security agencies but left out the service, “all because they feel we are not in enforcement.”
He said: “But the centre is taking care of all the by-products of all these agencies, including police, Department of State Services, civil defense, Immigiration, vigilante and others.
“The inmates need to go to court. How do they access justice if they don’t go to court?
“We have vehicles but we need the Abia government to complement the efforts of our management at the national headquartres to at least increase our fleet of vehicles.”
The controller lamented that the three escort vehicles for the inmates in Umuahia were grossly inadequate to cover the 48 courts located all over the capital city.
He also said that Aba correction centre was covering 39 courts, adding that Arochukwu had the same number of courts with few vehicles.
Ezugwu, who decried the problem of overcrowding in Abia correction facilities, disclosed that of the 1760 inmates in custody in three correctional centres in the state, only about 150 were convicted.
According to him, the rest are awaiting trial and some of them have undergone trial for 10 years and above.
He, however, described the new correctional service Act as the best international correctional practice.
He said that the Act had made a lot of provisions to address the issue of overcrowding.
“Moreover, the new correctional Act provides for separate facilities for females and even for juveniles, but we don’t have such facilities in Abia.
“We have a juvenile home in Aba but it is not operational now.
“So it is only the state government that can help us to reactivate that place so that the juveniles will not be seen in the prison,” he said.
NAN
– Nov. 20, 2019 @ 18:39 GMT |
Tags: Abia Controller of Corrections expresses concern over inadequate escort vehicles for inmates
