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VANGUARD
Posted to the Web: Friday, August 05, 2005
APART from the unhygienic conditions of the nation’s prison yards, another impediment constituting abuse on the rights of suspects and convicted inmates is their poor feeding.
Inmates of the nation’s prisons are given rations that are unbefitting of domestic pets. Any hope of changing situation seems dampened with the dreary revelations from Uche Kalu, acting Controller-General of Nigeria Prisons Service, NPS, that N6.7 billion is required to feed the nation’s 41,000 to 45,000 prisoners yearly", though the NPS gets only about half of that figure.
This amount gives a daily projection of N300 feeding allowance per inmate and provisions for cooking gas.
A prisoner is currently fed on N150 per day. This is grossly inadequate and not in tune with empirical economic reality in the country. Spiral inflation has led to rise in the prices of essential food items. Not even a kid can sustain his body’s minimum nutrients requirement on a food budget of N150 per day.
The 1999 Constitution in Section 17 (2)(b) provides that "the sanctity of the human person shall be recognised and human dignity shall be maintained and enhanced." Section 34 of the same Constitution provides for an individual’s right to respect for the dignity of his person. This includes prisoners.
The pathetic feeding state of the nation’s inmates runs contrary to the provisions of the law. Such practice is highly damaging to inmates' health as they are fed with daily rations minimal nutrients. This fact is responsible for the haggard looking state of the country’s inmates.
Some of them are awaiting -trials while others have been convicted. There are others who were merely detained on frivolous charges at police stations across the country. This latter set has no hope of being fed at all. Payment to prison food contractors is delayed. The authorities pay little attention to the welfare of inmates, with their medical services almost non-existent. In cases where inmates have to be taken to hospitals, there are hardly vehicles to make the journey.
Prisoners fall prey to illnesses like diarrhoea, typhoid, of the poor quality of their food and the low levels of hygiene in their cells.
Water is usually in short supply. Prisoners have all kinds of skin diseases that are not treated.
Nigerian Criminal Law presumes a suspect innocent until proven guilty by a court. Government should cater for inmates. A better treatment of inmates would hopefully make them better citizens – and not worse criminals – by the time they serve out their terms.
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