Retired prison officials say the reformation of the Nigeria prisons system should be aimed at achieving inmates rehabilitation in enhancing their social integration into the society.
They said prisons were established to serve as “human refineries”, transforming inmates into law abiding and productive members of the society.
The experts, comprising top prison officials and others, were in Makurdi for a Summit on Criminal Justice and Prisons Reforms, but the summit was cancelled by the Benue Government.
The experts, who shared their experiences with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Makurdi, called on state governments to become equal stakeholders in the prisons system.
They regretted the postponement, saying that the summit could have impacted positively on the administration of criminal justice and updated the skills of other actors in the prisons sector.
They said the postponement was a drawback to the state and called for an early date for its commencement to achieve the desired results.
NAN reports that the summit had been planned by the Benue government, Inspired Prisons Association For Change and Transformation (In-pact Nigeria) and Citizens United For Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE).
NAN also reports that the summit, initially slated to hold on Saturday in Makurdi, was expected to feature prominent prisons officials both serving and retired, including university dons and bureaucrats.
The summit was expected to examine the multi sectoral concerns of corrections under the prisons reformation programme.
Country/ Executive Director of CURE, Mr Sylvester Uhaa, said the essence of the summit was to brainstorm on different perspectives of justice reform system in Nigeria and suggest workable ways of improving it.
He called for the complete overhaul of the criminal justice system in the country to reduce the rate of convictions by the courts.
According to him, the current prison system is only breeding hardened criminals.
“A situation where a first time offender is kept together with notorious criminal who has served several other sentences is not good and does not help the reformation of inmates.”
He called for the adaptation of crime preventive mechanisms by strengthening law enforcement institutions to avoid frivolous convictions and detentions.
According to him, in other climes, the concept of prisons has become obsolete as prisons are daily shut down instead of investing in them.
Uhaa, however, called on state governments to show interest in the management of prisons and the welfare of prison inmates to reduce the inherent weaknesses in the system.
He admitted that though the prisons were on the exclusive reserve, the inmates were mostly indigenes of the states and urged them to become stakeholders in the upkeep of prisons.
He called on the states to domesticate the Criminal Justice Act of 2007 and to implement Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism as a way of reducing incarcerations in the country.
Uhaa also called on the chief judges of the states to conduct regular prison visits to free awaiting trial inmates that had overstayed in the prisons.
He also advocated for speedy trial of cases and the empowerment of the prisons “to reject convicts when prisons are filled”.
A retired Deputy Controller General of the Prisons, Chuks Afezua, called for the amendment of the prisons Act to reflect the current prison needs.
He blamed the inability of prisons to rehabilitate inmates on nonexistent facilities in the prisons and called on the Federal and State governments to improve the lot of prisons.
Another participant, retired Controller of prisons, Dr Ekpendu Orakwe, appealed to the government to provide compensation to those wrongly convicted.
Orakwe regretted the appalling prison conditions in the country and called for immediate intervention by the government to save the prisons.
The Benue Controller of Prisons, Mr Peter Pevigo, who also regretted the postponement, said the summit would