Prisons de-congestion: AGF inaugurates committee Tuesday

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) will on Tuesday inaugurate a stakeholders’ committee on prisons decongestion.

The minister’s Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Mr. Salihu Isah, said in a statement on Sunday that the committee would be led by the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Ishaq Bello.

According to the statement, the committee “will oversee the implementation of the Federal Executive Council’s directives to fast track decongestion of prisons”.

The statement said the committee, would among others, draw “a roadmap for the prison decongestion program”.

The statement said, “This renewed efforts to put prisons across the nation under proper perspective, is geared to mark a paradigm shift from previous attempts towards prison decongestion in the country.

“Therefore, the Federal Ministry of Justice intends to realign the program to pay greater emphasis on true reforms of the prison and shifting of emphasis from retaining the services of external solicitors for awaiting trial inmates only to the Reformation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (RRR) of the inmates.

“The stakeholders committee is also expected to come up with a roadmap for the prison decongestion program, providing a comprehensive user friendly approach for tackling the problems bedeviling the Nigerian prison system.Punch