Prison decongestion: Implementation of Parole below expection – CLEEN Foundation

By Samuel Luka

A Non-governmental Organization, Centre for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN) has observed that the implementation of Parole, an Initiative aimed at decongesting the various correctional facilities in Nigeria is below expectation in Bauchi state.

The Executive Director of the Foundation, Dr Gad Peter made this known during a Performance Appraisal workshop on the Legal Framework on Parole and the Administration of Criminal Justice in Nigeria held at the Chartwell hotel Bauchi Thursday.

Mr Peter who noted that Bauchi has over 8000 inmates across about 14 correctional centers, said it will not be a pass mark for only five persons to have benefited from the parole since its establishment and the domestication of Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) in Bauchi state.

According to him, the low performance of the Parole in Bauchi state clearly shows that the stakeholders in the justice system need to do more.

“At the rate we are going, we are not meeting the need why Parole is put in place, we are not meeting the additional part of why we have ACJL in place. So, it is very important for us as stakeholders to go back to the drawing board and ask ourselves this simple question, why are we slow? And why is the progress not where we need to be?

He added: “Probably, there are a number of other persons demanding this Parole or need this Parole but they are not enjoying it because we are not paying attention to all of the details and so the ministry of justice, the media, the office of the Attorney general, the correctional service, I mean all stakeholders need to get deeply involved and the parole board itself, to look at what exactly do we need to do to help this situation”.

“I honestly think that beyond what we are discussing is the fact that we cry so much about prison congestion and so, when you do a level of Parole you are going to decongest the correctional centers”, he said.

According to him, “there are people that commit petty offences, and there are chances you hear that they are sentenced to three months, six months in prison, these are people that you can hand over to their community leaders and say look, ensure this person does not do this again and then we monitor that person, especially first time offenders”.

Mr. Gad Peter asserted that decongesting the correctional facilities has a lot of benefits, because the government will instead of spending money on feeding and providing security to guard the inmates, provide potable water, better health facilities, education and roads for the larger society.

“So I think the society need to have a review and I hope that the stakeholders in Bauchi would take a second look at all these issues”, he said.

The Executive Director called for commitment towards the implementation of the Parole initiative, urging the National Human Rights Commission, Legal Aid Council, the media, Nigeria Bar Association and the civil society organizations to provide oversight function towards ensuring successful implementation of the parole.

He attributed the low performance of the parole initiative to lack of commitment on the part of the stakeholders, saying more people need to be involved in the system for it to make the desired impact.

The workshop had in attendance, the representatives of the Nigeria Police Force, Correctional Service, Nigeria Bar Association, media, Nigeria Legal Aid Council, Bauchi state Ministry of justice, Immigration Service, Lawyers and various Civil Society Organizations, including the International Society of Zaar Intellectuals (ISOZI), among others.