Nigeria Prisons Service trains 811 juveniles

The Nigerian Prisons Service on Tuesday said there were 811 juveniles in its BOSTAL training institutions across the country. In a statement to The PUNCH by the Prisons Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ope Famutimin, the NPS said the persons, below the age of 18 years, were never kept in prison. It read, “When inmates are suspected to be underage, steps are usually taken to address it. The breakdown of these juveniles is as follows: BOSTAL Training Institution, Kaduna , 402; BOSTAL Training Institution, Ilorin, 22; and BOSTAL Training Institution, Abeokuta, 185. “This year alone, 69 students of Kaduna Bostal Institution sat the UTME (JAMB) exams while105 Inmates enrolled for Nov/Dec NECO/WAEC exams and132 sat the Senior Secondary School Certificate Exams. The service recorded tremendous successes in this field of endeavour.” The NPS also said there were 25 condemned female inmates in prisons across the country, out of a total of 1,114 female inmates. While 241 persons were said to be convicted, 840 are awaiting trial and eight, serving life sentences. It also said there was provision for pregnant female inmates. The statement added, “Pregnant female inmates sent to the prisons by the courts or who have children that are below the age of 18 months, are accepted in the prisons. “The pregnant female inmates are allowed to have their babies kept with them until they are 18 months. Cap 366 Laws of Federation,1990, allows this. After 18 months, these babies are handed over to the relatives of the female inmates or the social welfare personnel.” It added that the Controller General of Prisons, Mr. Zakari Ibrahim, had, upon his assumption of office, embarked on the construction and development of new prisons across the country. “These include the construction of the Kaduna Bostal Institution Clinic, installation of solar lighting system in prisons; the construction of additional cell blocks in Kano Central, Aba, Nsukka, Koton-Karfe, Otukpo and Lafia prisons among many others. “Seven hundred and ninety inmates have also been resettled with tools under the inmates training and resettlement programme. Over 1,000 inmates are on vocational skills acquisition programmes and 245 inmates sat and passed trade tests in different vocations,” the statement said.