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Knights of the Catholic Church have said Nigeria is in dearth of prisons, urging the Federal Government to build more to accommodate increasing numbers of convicted criminals.
The knights lamented the deplorable living conditions of inmates, which they blamed inadequate number of correctional facilities in the country.
According to Sir Charles Mbelede, the Worthy Supreme Knight of the Order of the Knights of St. Mulumba, Nigeria, who stated this in a chat with newsmen during this year’s convention held in Calabar,said: “The Knights of St. Mulumba are alarmed by the poor state of the nation’s correctional centers. They are old cranky and over crowded with inmates, who are poorly looked after.
“We call on the Federal Government through the Ministry of Interior to immediately institute radical reforms in the correctional centres.
“More modern prisons should be provided as the current ones are not only inadequate but over stretched.”
Mbelede added: “This year alone there are 84,000 inmates, out of which only 27,000 inmates have been convicted.
“The rest are awaiting trials. The figure indicates that 34,767 inmates exceed the total capacity of our Correctional Centres put at 50,000.
“The welfare of inmates must be prioritized. As a body, we have directed our various organs to escalate their Prisons Apostolates, by regularly visiting the correctional centres in their respective localities to dispense charity items to the inmates, provide them free medical and legal services and keep their hopes alive.”
