By Uchino Amatey
The Cross River State Ministry of Justice has pledged its support to the Nigerian Correctional Service, Cross River Sate Command, in the decongestion of correctional facilities in the State.
The Commissioner for Justice, Mr Tanko Ashang gave this pledge recently while receiving the Controller of Corrections, Cross River State Command, Rev. Ben-Rabbi Freeman and his team on a courtesy call in the Ministry of Justice Headquarters, Calabar.
Mr Ashang assured of the Ministry’s total cooperation in decongesting correctional facilities and offering other legal services when needed.
According to him “I know some people are concerned about increase in crime rate when correctional facilities are decongested but law enforcement is a continuous process. If someone has met the criteria of the law to be set free, that person should be released. If the person commits a crime again, we will arrest him for the new crime and prosecute him. So we will work with you on all fronts, the success of your work is our success.”
He maintained that all components of the administration of criminal justice chain which include investigators, prosecutors, judiciary and correctional facilities must work together to strengthen the justice system in Nigeria.
In his words “If any component is weak, they rest are weak. If we ignore your end then prosecution, investigation and even the judiciary is useless. So every component is important and coming here has shown me how you prioritise the administration of criminal justice.”
Reiterating the need for inmates to acquire skills that can add to their personal development, the Commissioner for justice said the Correctional Service should take advantage of what the Cross River State Government is doing through the Fabrication Academy and other existing Ministries, Department and Agencies in the state.
The Commissioner also commended the Controller of Corrections on giving the State Correctional Service a face lift.
Speaking earlier, the Controller of Corrections, Cross River State Command, Rev. Ben-Rabbi Freeman said the visit was necessary to strengthen the already existing relationship between the State Correctional Service and the Ministry of Justice.
Rev. Freeman cited prison congestion as a major challenge confronting the State Correctional Service; one he hopes to tackle by working closely with the State Ministry of Justice.
Explaining how the Nigerian Correctional Service Act of 2019 can help with prison decongestion, Rev. Freeman said: “The transition from the Nigerian Prison Service to Nigerian Correctional Service is not just change of name or nomenclature. It entails a lot as captured in the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019. One beautiful aspect of it is the non-custodial service, because it gives a lot of opportunities for alternative sentencing towards decongesting our facilities.”
Decrying inadequate infrastructural facility in the Calabar Custodial Center, the State Controller said “we have a challenge in managing inmates under the covid-19 protocol because we lack an isolation center. What I Inherited is a facility to admit only 10 suspects; 7 for males and 3 for females, courtesy of the State Ministry of Health. There is a need for us to have a hundred capacity central isolation center. It will help us to better receive inmates.”
He further added that the Calabar Custodial Center does not have the capacity to accommodate 50 inmates; hence the need for expansion.
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