TIME UP FOR PRISON REFORMS

TIME UP FOR PRISON REFORMS

BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU.

A call has being made to the Nigerian government by a public affairs commentator ,Mr Richards Mammah ,Chief Executive Officer of the Sunbird African Media LImited ,Lagos ,to as a matter of urgency quickly overhaul the nation's prisons systems .

In an exclusive chat with this reporter  in his Lagos office ,the global affairs analyst with expertise on Africa and publisher of The Difference Group of newspapers  wondered why the government has not borrowed  a leaf from  a Far East nation's model.

He noted that he was aware of several prisoner swap deals  in which a prisoner in a Far Eastern nation [names with held] after spending some years in prison and had displayed an impeccable character is allowed to go on a parole such that he will sign an agreement with the government and allowed to go overseas to seek for a work and upon getting a job with the aid of the government is made to remit half of it back to the purse of the state until the end of the agreement .

He stated that this kind of agreement is usually a highly classified "state-secret"between the prisoner and the government and it is not made known to the general public.

When asked whether most of the Asians in Nigeria seen working in various places were people who could be under such a scheme ,he simply shrugged his shoulders and gave a terse reply :may be.

He also said that during the war fought between Britain and the United states centuries ago,history also recorded  that there were similar prisoner swap deals .

Analysts believe that this will be good for the polity as it will help to decongest the prisons while at the same time make the prisoners very useful  to themselves in the process as they are able to rebuild what may be a shattered life for so many in their position..

The prison itself is not supposed to be  a death sentence like many actually think of it but a reconstructive or reform centre  where an average human being who has behaved rather badly is sent to and then taught the simple traits of good behavior .

However ,in Nigeria like several nations around the third world ,the prisons are actually like a torture chamber for many as various insider accounts show that the prisoners are usually poorly treated  hence when they are released become more entrenched in the art of criminality save for a divine intervention.