Posted by By MIKE JIMOH on
The Prisons Public Relations Officer, Lagos Command, Mr Ope Fatinikun, has laid the blame of prison pregnancies at the doorstep of the judiciary.
The Prisons Public Relations Officer, Lagos Command, Mr Ope Fatinikun, has laid the blame of prison pregnancies at the doorstep of the judiciary. In an interview with Sunday Sun weekend, Fatinikun described as false the insinuation that wardens were responsible for some of the pregnancies as carried by national dailies last week.
'The problem of pregnancy among female inmates lies squarely at the doorstep of the judiciary,' the PPRO told Sunday Sun. 'Our job is comparable to that of bankers who take custody of other peoples' money. In our own case, we take charge of human beings sent to us from the courts.'
Every once in a while, pregnant offenders are sent from the courts to be remanded in prison or even jailed for a number of years. In the PPRO's words, a comprehensive pregnancy test is carried out on female inmates within 24 hours once they arrive the detention facility. Whoever is found to be pregnant will be informed immediately and subsequently monitored closely.
According to Fatinikun, there is an ante-natal care centre in the Female Prisons at Kirikiri with gynaecologists to assist pregnant inmates. Also, the prison authorities work hand in hand with some NGOs to assist nursing mothers until their wards reach 18 months. By this age, the tots are taken from their serving mothers and given to their families.
'We liaise with families of serving female inmates to take their children from the prison environment. The law states that children born and raised in prison should not be made to know they grew up within the confined circles of a prison,' Fatinikun stated. 'So when they are 18 months, they are taken from their serving mothers and either given to their families or NGOs willing to take care of the kids.'
On how the trend can be stopped, the PPRO insists that the ball is in the court of the judiciary. In other words, if the courts do not send pregnant inmates to prison, cases of inmates giving birth in detention would be almost non-existent.