UPDATE ON KADUNA CUSTODIAL CENTRE: “It Was An Attempted Jail Break That Failed”… Command

"The Command and indeed the Service are not trying to hide any fact as purported by a section of the Press, especially when life is involved”.... Sanusi Danmusa.

“Four (4) inmates later died in the hospital from the injuries sustained in the melee that ensued while being restrained by the Custodial officers from breaking jail. For the avoidance of doubt, all the deceased inmates were from the condemned section of the Custodial Centre where the jail-break occurred”.

 

With the media space awash with the reports of the death of about eight (8) inmates at the Kaduna Custodial Centre of the Correctional Services, Kaduna, the Command has issued a statement to make clarifications concerning the incident.

The statement which was signed by the Controller of Corrections of the Kaduna state Command, Sanusi Mu’azu Danmusa on Saturday, disclosed that the attention of the Nigeria Correctional Service Kaduna State Command has been drawn to some malicious publications by a section of the media in respect of the attempted jail-break.

According to the Controller of Corrections, “the attempted jail break was done by a section of the condemned convict cell in the custodial centre in Kaduna on Tuesday 31st March, 2020 and had therefore, issued a press release earlier to inform the public of this attempted jail-break”.

Danmusa stressed that “the press release is necessary to assure the public that the Command and indeed the Service are not trying to hide any fact as purported by a section of the Press, especially when life is involved”.

He revealed that, “four (4) inmates later died in the hospital from the injuries sustained in the melee that ensued while being restrained by the Custodial officers from breaking jail. For the avoidance of doubt, all the deceased inmates were from the condemned section of the Custodial Centre where the jail-break occurred”.

However, this goes contrary to the earlier statement released by the Command in the wake of the media reports that “No lives were lost during incident of 31^st, March 2020.

Danmusa however disclosed that, “a comprehensive investigation has commenced on the directive of the Controller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Alhaji Jafaru Ahmed”.

Speaking to some concerned stakeholders on the issue, one of the residents of the adjoining Marafa Estate that shares a common border with Custodial Centre, called on the Controller of Corrections to immediately, address the issues of sanitation within the facility in order to safeguard the health and well-being of the inmates.

Malam Inuwa Abdulkadir called on the government and personnel of the Custodial Centre to provide a well-equipped medical centre to cater for the health needs of the inmates as these are members of the society.

This he said has become necessary following the spread of the CoronaVirus pandemic across the country that could spread like wildfire within the confined space of the Custodial centre.

It is recalled that earlier media reports had put the figure of death at eight (8) as against  the now reported figure of four (4) by the Command.