In total, Atilade granted 80
minors amnesty, telling them to “go and sin no more.” The beneficiaries
are just at the Badagry Prisons alone. It means there may be other
minors languishing hopelessly behind bars across the country. A 2013
country report by the United States estimated that “6,000 children are
locked up in Nigeria’s notorious jails and detention centers.”
Unfortunately, nothing much is being done to reverse the noxious trend.
The released minors are aged
between 12 and 17, a period that their character ought to be molded on a
strong moral foundation. They were accused of spurious offenses like
running away from school, wandering and breach of public peace. Their
punishment was to be locked up with hardened criminals. This defeats the
objective of reforming delinquents.
The treatment these minors were
subjected to could have changed their psyche permanently. Upon release,
they appeared emaciated. This reinforces the impression that the kids
gained nothing in prison. Primarily, the internment of the penal system
is to serve as a sanctuary to reform offenders, especially when they are
young. However, the Nigerian prison system is a breeding ground for
hardened criminals. Therefore, locking up minors with dangerous convicts
is counterproductive and homicidal.
Almost all societies are
battling with teenage offenders, but a Human Rights Watch report said
the number of children in juvenile detention centers in the US fell
consistently from 1996 to 2011 by modifying the laws. It said a 2014 law
in California offered early parole for convicted child offenders who
were under 18 at the time of a crime. HRW noted that the United Kingdom,
Finland and Malta have agreed with it to end or sharply reduce the
detention of migrant children, while France and Israel now limit the
detention of migrant children to “exceptional circumstances.” Japan,
Taiwan, Panama and Turkey have enacted laws prohibiting the detention of
children.
Nevertheless, the UK model is
worth giving a try. Policy-wise, it treats children aged between 10 and
17 differently when they commit a crime by sending them to youth courts.
The convicted ones are sent to Special Secure Centers. As of 2010,
there were just 150 of these violent minors throughout the 10 centers.
The centers are protected by CCTVs, pagers and other technological
tools. Every day, the children study twice, do homework, vocations and
sports.
In comparison, Nigeria is
sending minors to adult prisons. This is risky. Nigerian prisons are
begging for a comprehensive overhaul, not only for the inmates, but also
for the society, which is careless about how ex-convicts acquire more
notoriety while serving their terms. A glimpse into Nigeria’s prisons
shows that they are harsh, short of food and medical aid.
Pregnant detainees are delivered
of babies there because there are no specific programmes to cater for
such scenarios. Overcrowded prison cells are a major source of
discontent for both the inmates and the warders. In 2016, the Nigerian
Prisons Service said that out of a total figure of 63,142 inmates,
45,263 or 72 per cent were awaiting trial persons, while just 17,897 or
28 per cent were convicts. The two cells for condemned criminals in the
Kano Prisons, for instance, were built for 20 persons. As of January
2016, they accommodated 92 inmates.
This irritates inmates, leading
to riots and jailbreaks. Between 2010 and 2016, the Koton-Karfe Prison
in Kogi State suffered three jailbreaks. In February 2012, 144 out of
145 inmates escaped from the prison. Prisons in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State
and Minna, Niger State suffered jailbreaks in 2014, while a breach
occurred in the Nsukka Prisons in Enugu State in 2016. In July 2016, two
notorious kidnappers escaped during a jailbreak in the Kuje Prisons,
Abuja.
Child offenders should not be a
part of this rot. Government needs new, pragmatic solutions. State
governments should work with the police, who arrest minors arbitrarily
for inconsequential offenses. When minors are arrested, they should be
tried at juvenile courts. Convicted minors should be sent to remand
homes, and not the overcrowded prisons. Convicted minors can also be
sentenced to community service.
State chief judges should
frequently review the cases in the prisons in their jurisdictions and
free child offenders that are being held for misdemeanors. The released
children, who might drift back into crime, should be enlisted in
educational and vocational programmes. States can collaborate with
multilateral agencies like UNICEF to make these centers conducive to
human habitation. This is in line with the Child Rights Act, which
Nigeria adopted in 2003. That global law is a redemptive tool that
government at all levels in the country treat disdainfully.
To lighten the burden of
overcrowded prisons, Abuja should engineer the legal reform of Item 48
in the Exclusive Legislative list, which vests the power on prisons
management in the government at the center. Willing states can then run
their own penal centers to suit their preferences, while others might
cede their powers to Abuja to run it for them.
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