24th July, 2017
Mr Neol Ailewon, Controller of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) Plateau Command, says 248 prisoners are on death row in prisons across the state.
Ailewon who made the disclosure in Jos on Monday, said that condemned convicts, of which only three were female, hail from different parts of the country.
“We have 248 condemned convicts in custody in the various prisons within this command, of which three of them are female.
“For someone to be condemned, it means he has committed a serious offence against the state.
“Managing this set of inmates is indeed a difficult task, considering the fact that they know they have been condemned by law.
“But as correction officers, we are trained to handle the good, the bad and the ugly, and we try to cater for them while in custody,” he said.
The controller also disclosed that 1,120 convicts were serving various jail terms while 516 inmates are awaiting trial in the seven formations under the command.
“We don’t have issues handling the convicted inmates, because they are serving their terms in jail and certain of leaving someday.
“So they relatively behave well, and in most cases, we use them to ensure peaceful atmosphere in the prisons, and they are the sole beneficiaries of the training on skills that we give our prisoners,” he said.
Ailewon appealed to the government, wealthy individuals and groups to support the service in ensuring that the inmates return to the society as reformed persons.