KADUNA CUSTODIAL CENTRE: No Lives Were Lost During Civil Unrest, Says Controller

Armed Soldiers on patrol of the Correctional Facility on Tuesday

“During the incident, the inmates had attacked the staff on duty with various harmful objects which resulted in 10 members of staff sustaining injuries”..... Danmusa

“However, the inmates were overwhelmed and the situation immediately contained with no record of escape”.

The Controller of Corrections, Kaduna State Command, Sanusi Mu’azu Danmusa has debunked reports making the rounds that lives were reportedly lost during the skirmish.

Earlier on in the week, there was a reported outbreak of violence at the Kaduna Correctional facility on April 1 2020, which resulted to panic by nearby residents of the facility, including passersby who scampered to safety.

In a report from some online platforms (Naij News Alert not included), five (5) persons were reported to have died in the skirmish that ensued with two others critically injured as a result of severe beatings received.

The Controller of Corrections, Kaduna state Command in a statement, disclosed that at about 1100hrs on Tuesday 31st March, 2020 a section of the Condemned Convicts Cell had engaged in a skirmish with personnel on duty.

 
In the statement, the State Controller revealed that, “during the incident, the inmates had attacked the staff on duty with various harmful objects which resulted in 10 members of staff sustaining injuries”.

“However, the inmates were overwhelmed and the situation immediately contained with no record of escape”, he stated.

Danmusa further stated in his statement that, “based on preliminary investigation, the convicts were asking for their release based on the rumor making the rounds in some media that the federal government had directed the release of 70% of inmates”.

 
He debunked the rumour saying that there was such directive from Service or the Federal Government stressing; “the Service wants to state categorically that there is no such directive or instructions to the Service to release any percentage of inmates. Rather the Service awaits any directive to that effect and will not hesitate to implement such order”.

 
Danmusa in the statement said, “The service wishes to use this opportunity to reiterate that there is no case of COVID-19 in the Kaduna Maximum Custodial Centre or any other centre within the Command”.

 
“Based on the directives of the CGC, Ja’afaru Ahmed, the State Command has put adequate measures on ground to contain the Virus. The Service is calling on the public not to panic as the safe and humane custody of the inmates is our priority”.

“The CGC has already set up an investigation panel to find out the immediate and remote causes of the incidence in order to forestall future occurrences”, the State Controller of Corrections stated.

However, informed sources state that about five (5) inmates reportedly died between that date and Saturday morning with two (2) in critical condition at the medical centre in the facility.

The sources revealed that the facility is over-populated considering that its installed holding capacity is for five hundred and forty seven as against its current population of about one thousand five hundred inmates and therefore, urged that medical practitioners be recruited to manage the poor health centre including sanitation upgrade of the facility.