Nigerian jail cells where detainees live like lords, utilise co-detainees as hirelings

The repulsive pictures of Nigerian jail cells on the web and in daily papers are sufficient to give anybody going to a correctional facility house in the nation a fit of anxiety.

Be that as it may, in the midst of these grimy, sodden and faintly lit rooms in penitentiaries, stuffed with the condemned, perished and biting the dust from everywhere throughout the nation, there are cells saved for some prosperous detainees who experience their terms in satisfaction and happiness.

Throughout the years, stuffing in Nigerian detainment facilities has been a repetitive subject of talk because of the extensive number of anticipating trial prisoners in the framework.

As per the Nigeria Prisons Service, 69 for every penny of the present jail populace is anticipating trial detainees as of February 12, 2018.

However, notwithstanding this, the Federal Government has kept on overlooking the partners' recommendation on the required extension of the current penitentiaries.

In spite of this issue, well-off detainees don't need to stress over space.

While life is an every day tussle between the rich and poor in Nigeria, going to jail is another rendition of that battle. With cash, Saturday PUNCH learnt that prisoners can live as much pleasant life as they can manage the cost of inside the dividers of detainment.

Some ex-detainees, who share their encounters, talk about "condos" in the penitentiaries where prisoners live like they are in their homes with every one of the benefits appended.

These benefits, it was learnt, don't simply arrive on the laps of prisoners. It is the means by which authorities profit as an afterthought, while prisoners without the money related muscle, rub bears in foulness.

In the Kirikiri Maximum Prison in Lagos for example, it was learnt that detainees who have the cash, pay anything amongst N70,000 and N300,000 to live in the VIP segment.

An ex-detainee who has now turned into a jail change advocate, Mr. Gwamnishu Harrison, shares his own particular experience crosswise over three detainment facilities in the nation, affirming our discoveries.

He says, "At the Maximum Prison, the VIP units are called 'condos' as opposed to 'cells'. Prisoners live in independent rooms with individual access to shower, can, TV and even generators.

"The sum you pay to live in the VIP area relies upon how huge your case is. In the event that for example, you were in jail in view of an extortion including a considerable measure of cash, they call you 'enormous fish' at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison. You would need to pay higher than others to get an uncommon cell. The higher the measure of cash associated with your case, the higher the cash you pay to authorities.

"Once the court articulates that you have been remanded, the jail corrections officers sit you down to reveal to you the circumstance you would meet at the jail. They would undermine you unpretentiously that you would be placed in the general cells, where detainees could beat you frequently yet that in the event that you were in the VIP cells, no one would have the capacity to touch you."

At the Kirikiri Maximum Prison, detainees in the VIP area even get individual watchmen, it was learnt.

These watchmen are different less-advantaged prisoners, who have the "luckiness" of being served the VIP detainees, with guarantee of a few benefits.

"When you get a space in the condo, you are given different detainees, who are less special as 'watches'. They secure you, clean your room and wash your garments. Nobody can go into the lofts without educating the 'gatekeepers' working there. You take authorization from them before you go in to see the VIPs," Harrison says.

At the Kirikiri Medium Prison's VIP segment – C Ward and K Ward – the circumstance isn't so unique.

Here, a recently constructed two-story building is utilized as the VIP segment.

Another square said to have been worked by previous Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, called Abia Hall is held for bring down class VIPs – the individuals who are rich yet not as rich as individuals in C and K Wards.

Here likewise, a detainee, who pays amongst N50,000 and N150,000 appreciates the benefit of an individual room and can with shower and fan.

Where a detainee does not pay enough, he imparts a space to another 'VIP', Harrison says.

He was at the Kirikiri Medium Prison without further ado before his exchange to the Ikoyi Prison, Lagos.

As indicated by him, a standout amongst the most critical benefits of being a prisoner dwelling in the VIP segments is the entrance to cell phones.

"They pay a great deal of cash to jailers to have the capacity to utilize their own advanced mobile phones. Are you not shocked that there are now and again reports of detainees cheating individuals even while still in jail?" he says.

In May 2017, an Ikeja High Court in Lagos State condemned a detainee Ikechukwu Ogbu, to 18 years detainment for cheating a financier, Patrick Edetchukwu, of an aggregate of N12.3m while serving a 10-year sentence for an undisclosed wrongdoing at Kirikiri Maximum Prison.

In October 2017, a prisoner of the Kuje Prison, Ifeanyi Ezenwa, was blamed for working a phony bank ready extortion while in prison.

The police affirmed that he duped an orthopedic therapeutic store of two wheel seats and N50,000 and furthermore misled Elizade Motors into giving over a vehicle, which his assistant, 43-year-old Dalhatu Yahaya, sold for N9m.

The VIP benefits delighted in by detainees are not restricted to the Kirikiri penitentiaries.

At the Ikoyi Prison, there is a phone square called Booster, which one of our journalists learnt was initially intended to house underage detainees.

Today, the square is utilized by VIP detainees and outsiders who have enough cash to spend.

Harrison says, "It resembles a level. It even has its own particular fence and entryway. It is isolated from the primary yard. Each room is independent and has blossoms around it. Every one of the prisoners there utilize telephones.

"The greater part of them utilize DVD players. They don't eat the consistent jail sustenance. Their sustenance are set up by the detainees who serve them as hirelings, they offer cash to those workers to get foodstuff. With the assistance of jail authorities, they purchase solidified chicken, turkey and different things effectively."

In detainment facilities, cash is the way to numerous benefits.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that a large portion of the less-favored detainees profit in the jail by trading revive cards provided by their families outside with cash from the VIP prisoners.

For example, when a lower class prisoner offers a N1,500 card to a VIP detainee, he receives N1,000 consequently.

At the Ogwashi-Uku Prison in Delta State, the VIP area is called Cell 6, a square of 13 rooms where a prisoner appreciates the advantage of having a space to himself.

Harrison, who served out his term at the jail, says that now and again, when there are a bigger number of VIPs than rooms at the VIP area, two prisoners may share a room.

However, dissimilar to Ikoyi and the Kirikiri detainment facilities, here, detainees at the VIP segment really pay month to month lease.

"You need to pay amongst N60,000 and N100,000 to get a room in Cell 6. Consistently, every detainee pays N4,000 month to month as a kind of lease despite the fact that they don't call it that," he says.

An ex-prisoner of the Kirikiri Female Prison, recognized basically as Ijeoma for obscurity, additionally discloses to Saturday PUNCH that there is likewise a VIP area at the female wing.

As indicated by her, she cleared out the jail in 2011 and at the time, prisoners were paying amongst N20,000 and N40,000 to remain in the VIP segment.

"We called it the B-Line or B-Cell. While different cells contained 50 detainees just four prisoners shared a cell in the VIP segment. Huge numbers of the prisoners there additionally utilized cell phones," she says.

Degenerate advantaged cells profit for authorities – Giwa-Amu

Jail change backer and Lagos attorney, Chief Gabriel Giwa-Amu, says he came to learn in regards to how degenerate authorities make favored areas in the detainment facilities throughout the years through his work.

In any case, as per him, it isn't in all cases that special detainees are isolated from the all inclusive community because of defilement.

He says, "Some advantaged prisoners are isolated in light of their sicknesses. Some of them experience the ill effects of tuberculosis and different infectious ailments.

"Be that as it may, as a rule, defilement is in play. We have a place called Aso Rock at the Kirikiri Prisons, which was initially worked by the British Council as a gift to the Nigeria Prison Service. The office is so all around kept up with numerous conveniences that authorities now utilize it as a chance to profit.

"Contingent upon the amount you can manage, you are not kept among the general detainees. This is a framework that has been continuing for quite a while. There is likewise a degenerate framework in the jail where the individuals who are conferred are given medicinal endorsements and are not kept in the jail yard but rather in the military doctor's facility."

Giwa-Amu affirms that for sure a cell piece which used to be an adolescent unit has been changed over to lodging prosperous detainees at the Ikoyi Prison.

"The adolescent unit called Buster does not exist at Ikoyi Prison any longer. It was annulled and moved to Abeokuta or Oregun Juvenile focuses. The current office is what is presently being utilized as cell for the special. Be that as it may, the adolescent unit still exists in Badagry Prison," he says.

The lobbyist reveals to Saturday PUNCH that the arrangement lies in decongesting the detainment facilities. To make this conceivable, he proposes three ways: courts discharging guilty parties on individual recognizance; penitentiaries practicing privileges of refusal and development of jail offices.

Giwa Amu says, "Courts ought to have the capacity to discharge a few people on individual recognizance instead of giving out strict safeguard conditions they could never have the capacity to meet. A few courts remand pregnant ladies or somebody with an inability when they realize that the jails are not prepared to deal with such individuals.

"Ikoyi Prison for example ought to have the capacity to turn back detainees when it realizes that its office can't suit in excess of 1,000 individuals. I discovered in my work with the detainment facilities that the more detainees they have in their offices, the more stipends they get from Abuja.

"There is a need to update the Nigerian pri