- Says most victims regret after making their offenders go to jail
BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
Authorities of the Nigerian Correctional Service have embarked on alternative amicable settlement between inmates of their prisons and victims with a view to setting free convicts and accused persons with less severe cases.
The Point reliably gathered that the NCS had been adopting the victim-offender mediation mechanism to decongest its custody, compensating affected victims and offsetting fines of convicted inmates.
To tackle overcrowding in prisons in Ebonyi State, the Comptroller of NCS in the state, Chigbata Anthony, in an interview with The Point, said, “The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Interior, earlier said we should bring a list of inmates with the order of fines and compensations. When that was done, 15 inmates from Correctional Centers in Ebonyi State were captured. Fines and compensations have been paid on their behalf by the Federal Government. They were also given transportation fare to enable them reunite with their families.”
According to Anthony, it has been discovered that complainants and victims of crimes and offences regretted dragging their offenders to court and seeing to their imprisonment.
Explaining the processes involved in the mediation mechanism, Anthony said, “Through our non-custodial staff, we have observed that some of those who made some inmates to be in custody regret when we approach them for mediation. They regret having made some of them enter the prison custody. So, we mediate between the offenders and complainants/victims and they reconcile and write joint agreement. We submit these to courts and then they are released.
“My advice is if you are offended, you can approach us for mediation and possible compensation or restoration of what was damaged instead of wallowing in guilt when the people are incarcerated.
“I advise our youths to be very careful; to be in custody is not a good thing. It is a waste of your youthful and important time. Youths should stop engaging in activities that will keep them behind bars; they should strive to be good citizens of this nation. The nation grows by the power of the youths, because the older ones are ageing. They would hand over the baton to the youths and if the youths are useless, then, they may not hold this country in the future.”
To further assist the Federal Government in decongesting the prisons, Anthony disclosed that the First Lady of Ebonyi State, Mrs Mary-Maudline Nwifuru, had facilitated the release of over 50 inmates from the NCS in the state.
Chigbata said Mrs Nwifuru paid stipulated fines and compensations on behalf of the inmates accused of minor offences, not attending courts and were first time offenders.
At the release of 15 inmates at the state judiciary headquarters premises in Abakaliki, a Magistrate, Nnenna Ukpabi admonished them on the need to manage pressures around them effectively and be good ambassadors of the nation.
Addressing the newly freed inmates, Ukpabi stated, “There are some opportunities you don’t get two times. I wouldn’t want you people to allow yourselves to get into crimes and go close to anywhere called police or court again. Manage whatever pressures you have effectively. Your ability to manage that makes you a responsible adult.
“Everybody is under pressure in this country. Even President Bola Tinubu is under pressure, so, don’t use pressure as excuse for crimes. Do you know why I am taking time to advise you? It is because there will be no second time pardon for you.”
