Posted by Champion on
OLD Abeokuta prison was visibly shaken yesterday as scores of its inmates protesting long detention without trial, attacked the prison officials who however, resisted an attempted jail break.
OLD Abeokuta prison was visibly shaken yesterday as scores of its inmates protesting long detention without trial, attacked the prison officials who however, resisted an attempted jail break.
The row which lasted about an hour left in its wake at least five prison officials and three of the inmates severely wounded.
Daily Champion reliably gathered that the inmates struck around noon, attacking the unsuspecting prison officials with sticks and other sharp objects.
A stiff resistance by the officials who later overpowered the inmates reportedly heightened hostility and turned the clash bloody.
According to the Comptroller of Abeokuta Prison, Mr Adetayo Moses, five of his men and three prisoners who were severely wounded had to be rushed to the General Hospital, Ijaiye, Abeokuta under the guidance of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Sarafa Tunji Isola.
Describing the incident as unfortunate, Moses said for sometime, the inmates especially those awaiting trial had been mounting pressure on him to get the state Chief Judge, Justice Oluremi Jacobs, to expedite action on their trial.
Moses, however, said when he wrote the Chief Judge on the matter and there was no response, the inmates decided to enforce their freedom unlawfully by attempting a jail break.
He commended his men and police officers deployed to the area for putting the inmates in check and restoring normalcy.
Addressing newsmen, yesterday, Governor Daniel who hurriedly abandoned a church service and rushed to the prison yard, blamed the incident on congestion of the prison by those awaiting trials and called for an overhaul of the nation's legal system.
He stressed that as part of the state efforts to salvage the situation, it would "fast track and grant a much larger figure of the inmates amnesty" while it has also located a new land to build modern prison."
It was learnt that the prison which is over 100 years old currently houses 564 inmates.