Corruption, Negligence Of Nigerian Prison Officials Allegedly Cause Death Of Two Inmates In Imo

Some inmates at the Nigerian Correctional Facility in Benin, Imo State have died due to the negligence and corrupt practices of the prison officers, SaharaReporters has learnt.

It was gathered that a man identified as Ebenezer, who was awaiting trial, died two weeks ago because his family could not pay the money demanded by prison officials for his treatment.

Sources identified the officers involved as Chief Warden, Mr Omoruyi, Mr Augustine Alenge, and some others from the facility's medical department.

Similarly, Elijah John, a prisoner serving his 15 years of jail term at the facility died on Tuesday (today) for the same reason. His death led to an uproar at the facility as other prisoners protested and demanded an investigation into the activities of the corrupt officials.

One of the sources said, “Barely two weeks after the death of an awaiting trial inmate as a result of negligence and corruption on the part of the Chief Warden, Mr Omoruyi, Mr Augustine Alenge, and the medical department, today a prisoner serving 15 years jail term died leading to protest in the yard.

“Although normalcy had been restored, inmates are not happy about the ugly development. Investigators from Zone G Benin were sent to unravel circumstances that led to the death of the inmate awaiting trial. It was discovered that the deceased family was made to cough up huge sums of money for his medical upkeep to no avail.

“When investigators came for the issue last two weeks, instead of picking inmates randomly for questioning, the prison authorities handpicked their loyalists holding specific positions in the yard. They equally threatened that anyone who gave out information will be dealt with.”

“We have also notified the prison headquarters in Abuja. Investigators that were sent didn't do anything concrete hence the repeated negligence. They continued to say Abuja is not bringing anything. The high-handedness of the Chief Warden Mr Omoruyi, Mr Augustine Alenge and the medical department of the centre is second to none. We need a change,” another source said.

All efforts to get the reaction of the Nigerian Correctional Service to the allegations were unsuccessful. The service's complaint section declined to comment on the issue and directed our correspondent to the public relations officer of NCoS, Abubakar Umar.

However, Umar could not be reached on his mobile line and did not immediately reply to a text message sent to him.

-sahara reporters