Ahead of today’s visit by the Assistant Comptroller-General of Prisons in Nigeria to the Ibara Prisons in Abeokuta, Ogun State, a whistle blower has raised alarm on how inmates are being subjected to illegal extortions in order to deceive authorities that all is well.
Sharpedgenews.com has found corroborations and obtained hard proof that prison wardens who embezzled statutory allocations for capital and recurrent expenditures levied inmates towards procuring paints to give the structure a fresh look.
“Inmates are made to part with meager allowances left them by visiting family members” said the whistle-blower.
“The money comes to the inmates so as to make up for the shortages often experienced in supplies of food and toiletries, but now the same people who are to provide basic needs for prisoners are now denying them of provisions made by families”, said the whistle blower
There have been reports of avoidable deaths of inmates due to the negligence of the medical team in the Ibara prisons. The food served inmates are far below recommended prison standards. Incorrigible corruption, bleeding of resources and deliberate attempts to hide administrative crimes and breaches are the order of the day at Ibara prisons in Abeokuta.
“After embezzling the money government allocated for prison renovation, they ask us inmates, i.e. awaiting trail, convicted and condemned alike to cover the money to buy paints from the little our family gave to us”, they collect money from inmates to fuel vehicles carrying inmates to court, failure to comply would mean denial of court appearances for accused, said one of the sources who has been volunteering to narrate the gross violations in Ibara prisons.
Some of the inmates whose crimes have not been proven. They plead that they have been wrongly accused, their liberty trampled and justice denied.