The Nigerian Correctional Service has disclosed that 28,149 inmates were released nationwide last year after fines and compensations were paid on their behalf.
Deputy Controller-General of Corrections, Ibrahim Idris, made this known on Thursday during the third public hearing of the Independent Investigative Panel on Alleged Corruption, Abuse of Power, Torture, and Other Inhumane Treatment against the Nigerian Correctional Service, held in Abuja.
He stated, “Last year, 28,149 inmates were released as a result of payment of fines and compensations. I also want to urge the panel and the public that payment of fine and compensation is a very charitable thing to do.”
Idris praised the role of charitable interventions in decongesting correctional facilities.
“It helps the Federal Government a lot. But when an individual wants to do it, he should follow the example of the minister whereas inmates were chosen, and the compensation, the fine were paid, and the inmates were even given repatriation money,” he said
He noted that the fewer the inmates in custody, the better the opportunity for proper rehabilitation, adding, “Because even before the 2019 Act, the philosophy of Nigerian correctional services has always been imprisonment as a punishment, and not for punishment.
“While it is pronounced, it is already punishment, whether the person comes to the correctional centre or not, it is already taken care of.”
Also speaking at the hearing, Assistant Controller General Cyrus Lekatile, who represented the Deputy Controller General of Corrections (Operations), addressed the legal limitations on custodial centres in holding inmates without proper documentation, especially regarding compensation.
“Practically, the NCoS does not have the power to keep in custody any individual who doesn’t have a valid document for remand. And so, when an individual who is sentenced with option of fine and compensation, i.e if the individual is unable to pay fine, it means naturally that he or she will serve the sentence,” he explained.
Lekatile outlined the procedures followed at the expiration of an inmate’s sentence where compensation remains unpaid.
“One, sometimes the warrants will come with compensation, and where the individual is unable to pay compensation before the end of the jail term, that compensation is converted into a jail term on the warrants. And then, where that particular order is not given on the warrants, the officers report this matter before the court that has actually convicted this individual.
“The judge or the magistrate will either convert the compensation to a jail term or order the release of this particular individual”, he explained.
He highlighted an ongoing legislative amendment to the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2015, that would introduce a Victim Compensation Fund, backed by federal allocations.
“The amendment if adopted by the legislative arm of the government talks about creating a victim compensation trust fund to be funded from the federal allocation.
“What matters is that the compensation to the victim will be paid from this trust fund without having anything to do with the inmates now who is unable to pay,” Lekatile said.
However, he added that inmates would still be required to perform tasks to support the fund.
“The inmates will perform some other duties that will probably generate some money, no matter how little. And then the money generated goes into the victim’s trust fund,” he noted.
