The Controller-General of Prisons, Ja’afaru Ahmed, has advised the officers of the Nigerian Prisons Service to adopt and implement the United Nations standard minimum rules in the treatment of prison inmates.
This, he said, would curb the frequent incidents of jailbreaks in prisons across the country and also help to maintain law and order in the facilities.
Ahmed said this on Saturday in Abuja during a seminar on the effective implementation of non-custodial measures in Nigeria.
The workshop, which involved foreign experts and development partners, focused on fast-tracking the implementation of the UN standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners (the Mandela rules) and the UN rules for the treatment of women prisoners and non-custodial measures for women offenders.
The CG expressed optimism that the workshop would go a long way in correcting several anomalies in the prison system.
Quoting the UN rule, Ahmed noted that it stipulated that from the beginning of imprisonment, the future of the offender should be thought out by the service.
He said, “These are all in the United Nations standard minimum rules which were later also changed to Mandela rules and later updated in line with the 21st century and that is the minimum standards that is expected across nations across the world.
“At the end of the workshop, we want better understanding of the United Nations standard minimum rules for the treatment of offenders and we want to also raise the consciousness of our various staff across the nation on the need to maintain the Mandela rules and to ensure that they are implemented in all our prison facilities across the country.
“We have invited the controllers here and they are the ones that will go back to their various formations and teach others what they have learnt here.”
The NPS boss stated that since assuming office in May, 2016, he had engaged his personnel on training and retraining, which he said would go a long way in improving their performance and their management of prison inmates.
(Punch)
