Deputy Controller Prisons, Mr. Julius Ezugwu, has praised the Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) and its partners for their efforts in decongesting  prisons and reforming the justice sector.

He spoke in Lagos at an event jointly organised by PRAWA in collaboration with the Prison Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and Joy Givers Foundation to honour prison officers.

Ezugwu recalled that PRAWA was able to secure the release of a person who attempted suicide from prison detention under the Prison Reform Project (PRP) of the Security and Justice Reform Programme (SJRD).

The project is a collaboration between PRAWA and the Nigerian Prisons Service with the support of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

His words: “On access to justice, the programme (PRP) that was inaugurated recently has recorded a lot of success.

“I have handed over so many inmates to the PRAWA team and they have been able to dispose some of the cases.

“I had a case of a boy who attempted suicide. I handed his case to the PRAWA team and luckily last Tuesday, he was released by the court.

“He came to my office with the PRAWA team and some NGOs that have committed to his rehabilitation very happy.”

He also noted that cases which were supposed to be “no-go areas” such as murder cases had been cracked by the PRAWA team after painstakingly reviewing the proof of evidence.

“You are bringing down the prison population and I want to enjoin you to continue helping us, as such cases arise daily,” he said.

He observed that it was through the support of non-governmental organisations such as PRAWA that many inmates find the prisons more comfortable.

He added that capacity building programmes by the NGOs help to remove the tension felt by some inmates upon release from prison.

News conveyed by: http://thenationonlineng.net/prison-decongestion-controller-hails-group/