The Federal Government has said it is planning to reduce the number of custodial facilities in the country.
It has claimed that the country does not need the current figure of 256.
According to the government, some facilities are only utilising about 30 to 40 percent of their carrying capacities.
It also said there is need to identify inmates with federal offences with a view to redistributing across the custodial facilities since virtually every state has a Federal High Court.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at the “Public Hearing on Alleged Corruption and other Violations against the Nigerian Correctional Service”, organised by the Independent Investigative Panel on the Alleged Corruption, Abuse of Power, Torture, Cruel, Inhumane and Degrading Treatment against the Nigerian Correctional Service.
The minister again warned against the inhumane treatment of inmates across the nation’s custodial facilities, saying such will not be tolerated in 2025.
Addressing the committee and other stakeholders, the minister said, “How many correctional centers do we even need? It is part of what you should cover in Nigeria.
“Realistically speaking, do we need 256 correctional centres that we have? The answer is no because the more correctional centers, the more pressure and stress in terms of supervision and control. And when there is problem of supervision and control, abuse becomes inevitable.
“So, in so many climes today, you have 3,000 capacity correctional centres. How many do we actually need? We need to look at that.
“Number three is, even with what we have today, there are some correctional centers that are densely populated or overcrowded, let me say that.
“And there are some that are not too populated. If there are criminals, if they are federal offences, there is federal jurisdiction. If I am not wrong, federal jurisdiction is everywhere, federal high court.
“So, can we critically look and analyse every correctional centre and look at those (inmates) who have committed federal offences and move them to less populated areas? Because it will shock you that there are correctional centres with about 30%, 40% occupation rate and there are some with about 200%. So how do we look at it? We think those are short-term gains that we can do like now and be able to reduce the space,” he stated.