Non-custodial Sentencing, Solution to Prison Decongestion – NCoS

The Nigerian Correctional Services says the adoption of non-custodial sentencing will aid prison decongestion.

NCoS’s spokesman, Duza Adamu, disclosed this in an interview in Abuja on Thursday.

Mr Adamu said that, as a service, the command was specifically conducting extensive sensitisation on the adoption of non-custodial sentencing in the FCT.

According to him, when a judge adopts non-custodial sentencing, it reduces the number of inmates who enter the facility or custodial centres.

”The non-custodial service is all about an alternative to imprisonment,” said Mr Adamu. “And so, when there are cases that do not require incarceration, we advise that those cases are better handled at the non-custodial service level.”

He explained that the alternative also prioritised offender rehabilitation for minors, community service, probation, fines, suspended sentence, parole, plea bargaining, compensation and restitution for first-time offences.

Mr Adamu added that the agency also occasionally embarked on advocacy visits to the chief judge of the FCT, with a view to encouraging periodic visits to correctional centres for the jail delivery exercise.

He explained that the jail delivery exercise entailed the judge visiting the custodial centres to review the cases of awaiting-trial inmates and free those who had no business being in prison.

“The chief judge of the FCT has been coming, periodically, to our centres, to see how they can release those who don’t have business being in the custodial centres. This is also part of the efforts to decongest our facilities,” he said.

The NCoS FCT spokesman further said that the agency was also committed to classifying inmates in the custodial centres through systematic assessment into specific custody or supervision levels.

“When inmates are properly classified to the appropriate correctional resources that match individual risks, behavioural patterns, and personal needs, it promotes institutional safety, tailored rehabilitation plans, and aids decongestion.

“In the FCT, we have a facility called Custodial Model Farm Centre, Dupka, in Gwagwalada, for inmates who have less time to stay, say between one month and a year.

“They are sent there for proper management and rehabilitation. They engage in various activities, such as vocational skills training, education, and farm work, to empower them upon discharge.

“However, it is still beyond the control of NCoS to fully decongest the facility due to an increase in crime on a daily basis, but the agency will continue to do its best to ensure that prisons are not over-congested,” Mr Adamu said.

He noted that anyone caught for a crime ought to be dealt with according to the law, adding that in view of this, the number of inmates kept increasing.

(NAN)