Prison boss bans use of cell phones in prisons

 

The new Comptroller General of Prisons, Dr. Peter Ekpendu, has banned the use of cell phones in the prisons, saying it is responsible for the incessant jailbreaks witnessed in recent times.

Addressing newsmen yesterday at the Owerri Prisons premises during his familiarization tour of prison facilities in the state, Ekpendu said the use of handsets was one of the security challenges facing the authorities.

Ekpendu said the authorities would henceforth ban the use of phones in prisons, saying it had created some security breaches in the past.

“Information dissemination and coordination of activities need some cohesion and intelligence which can be done through electronic gadgets. So, it is easy to pass such information through the handsets to their collaborators outside,” he said.

He said he was going round the prisons to monitor the facilities in the prisons and to ensure that officers involved in the security of prisons put in their best.

The prison boss also said his main policy thrust was to identify the causes of anti-social behaviour of the convicted inmates in the prison facilities across the country and put necessary machinery in place to make sure that they were reformed while serving their sentences.

“We will give them skills and then prepare them for eventual reintegration to their various communities so that they could be useful members of the society and citizens of this country capable of contributing to the societal growth and development,” he said.

Part of his priorities, he explained, include securing the prisons, improvement in the existing infrastructure, welfare of staff and inmates, training of prisons’ workers to ensure they carry out their duties effectively.

However, on prison congestion, he said the authorities were doing a lot to decongest the prisons but regretted that constant strikes embarked upon by the courts had not helped matters.

He maintained that through the collaborative efforts of prisons authorities, chief judges of the states, the frequent exercises of the prerogative of mercy by state governments and the quick dispensation of justice, the issue of congestion in the prisons would be reduced to its barest minimum.