Security of inmates and officials of the Nigerian Prison Service in Mandala Medium Security Prison, in Kwara state is only at the mercy of God, a situation which is becoming a source of worry to prison officials in the state.

This followed a report of blackout in the prison that is housing condemned inmates among others for about two years.

State of the prison

Commissioned on December, 7th 2009, as a Medium Security Prison; Mandala as at last check on Tuesday March 19, 2013, had a total of 535 prison inmates, including 15 condemned criminals, 358 males and three females awaiting trials.

Located on the outskirts of Ilorin, along Ilorin-Alapa Road in Asa Local Government Area of the state, the prison has many sections where inmates are supposed to acquire different vocational skills including carpentry, tailoring and farming among others.

With all this however, facilities in the prison are being underutilised due to myriads of problems confronting officials at inmates, of which power failure is number one.

Controller of prisons in charge of the state, Mr. Olarinle Bolanle said during a chat with newsmen in Ilorin that the prison was finding it difficult to carry out vocational activities for the inmates since the beginning of the blackout in January 2012.

He said the prison officials have been operating with lanterns at nights.

The controller attributed the development to the faulty transformer which is supplying electricity to the prison and surrounding villages. He said he had reported the matter to the state government and the state house of assembly.

Bolanle, who described the absence of electricity at the prison as a security risk, appealed to both the Federal and the state governments to come to the aid of the prison.

"The essence of imprisonment is to reform and rehabilitate before integration back into the society, the aim is defeated with the current situation at the prison," he said.

Bolanle solicited the assistance of organisations and agencies to complement government efforts in prisons reformation.

However, investigation by our correspondent revealed that the situation at the prison has been lingering on since the year 2011.

Sometimes last year, wife of the Kwara state Governor Mrs. Omolewa Ahmed, during a visit to the prison was told of the same problem.

The first lady’s visit to the prison precisely on May, 30th, 2012, according to a Deputy Director of Prisons, Mr Akin Oseni, was the first by any government official since it was opened.

The visit was not just an epoch one but one which further exposed the precarious condition which the prison officials and the inmates have been contending with for a long time.

Apart from the blackout in the area, the prison also suffers from acute shortage of potable water, inadequate vehicles, rifles and personnel.

The Bailey bridge constructed by the Nigerian Army Engineers over four decades ago, that links the prison with the state capital and other parts, has become a threat to lives and property of its users.

Blackout

Receiving the governor’s wife during the said visit to the prison, Oseni in his address said "the darkness was occasioned by the state of disrepair of the transformer that services the prison and its barracks."

According to him, "the cost of repairs and overhaul of the generator and the procurement of 120 AH capacity battery to power the prison then was just N180,755.50k" as at May 2012.

He said, "Though when the prison was opened, some provisions were made by the authorities of facilities and equipment that could facilitate smooth running of this place, the Mandala Prison is battling with some major teething problems of which provision of adequate and un-interrupted power supply is number one.

"The assessment of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) team of Engineers on the transformer indicates that it is beyond repair and the only solution to restore the light back to the prison is its replacement with a new and bigger one that can cater for future expansion of the prison and its environment," Oseni added.

Stressing the security implication of the situation, the prison boss said, "for effective security measures in and around the prison, there is the need to have a stand-by generator that will service the station when there is power outage."

It is therefore shocking to still hear that about a year after the report, power is yet to be restored at the prison even with the increasing number of inmates and growing security challenges in the country.

Deplorable road condition

Painting further, a precarious situation in which inmates are being transported to Court from the Prison, Oseni called for an urgent need to fix the deplorable condition of the Moro Bridge to avoid the risk of being attacked.

"This is the bridge that connects Mandala with Oko-Olowo. The economic and security importance of this road; Ilorin /Alapa, Igbeti road upon which the bridge is located cannot be overemphasized. Hence, urgent attention is needed for its permanent repair to put an end to the annual experience of the road’s users particularly staff and inmates of Medium Security Prison, Mandala-Ilorin."

Inmates’ Health

Beyond the issues of power, water and bad road, authorities of the Mandala Prison are also advocating for free health care services for the inmates of the Prison, ambulance to convey inmates to hospitals especially during emergency situations.

"We shall be very glade if mummy (governor’s wife) can use the grace of God at her disposal to help us talk to the powers that be in the state particularly the Kwara state Hospital Management Authorities on how to secure a free health and prompt care services for the inmates of the prison. This becomes necessary because of what we experience any time we have emergency cases," he said.

ACG’s visit

Shortly after the reports of blackout in the prison, the Assistant Controller-General of Prisons (ACG), zone ‘D’ comprising Kwara, Niger, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Alhaji Abubakar Falke, recently embarked on a three- day official inspection exercise to prisons in Kwara state.

Falke said that his visitation was borne out of the need to familiarize himself with officers under his zone and most importantly to intimate them with the new circular about their operation which is designed to benchmark against best practices.

During his visit to Madala, where he addressed warders of the prison, the ACG charged the officers and men to hold their job in high esteem and should not allow the challenges of jail break and other security lapses that greeted previous years repeat itself.

He said that a new circular would be sent to them soonest on the need to be more proactive adding that any officer that fails to comply with the new order will be sanctioned.

Speaking during the visit, the Deputy Controller of Prisons in charge of Madala, praised the ACG for deeming it fit to visit prisons in Kwara and urged him to use his good office to further transform the prison service to a better one.

Oseni thanked God that no report of jail break, violence and even death of inmates has been recorded in the prison since its establishment despite challenges confronting it.

He solicited assistance from the ACG and the government for the provision of drugs and equipment to the just-completed prison medical centre; provision of functional vehicle; more staff, additional rifles and provision of standby generator to enable them enjoy steady power supply.

Commenting on the issue, an Ilorin resident who pleaded anonymity, said, "let us hope that appropriate authorities will rise to the occasion to avert jail break and stop putting the lives of prison officials and inmates in jeopardy.

"There is also the need to equip the vocational sections of the prison to serve their intended purpose since the essence of sending inmates to the prison is to rehabilitate them to become useful members of the society," he said.