The Controller-General, Prisons, Mr. Ahmed Ja’afaru, is to appear before the Senate over the imprisonment of underage offender in the same prison with adults.
Ja’afaru was summoned by the Senate on Wednesday following a motion to that effect.
He will appear before the Senate Committee on Interior.
The motion titled “Illegal Confinement of Under-age Offenders/Infants in the Same Prison with Adult Prisoners” was moved by Sen. Victor Umeh (APGA-Anambra) at plenary on the matter.
Apart from the summon, security agencies were warned not to incarcerate juveniles beyond 48 hours.
Presenting his motion, Umeh said it was unbelievable that some underage were languishing in prisons as published in the media.
He said keeping infants in prison with their mothers was also very dangerous for their upbringing.
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In the case of underage, he said police prosecutors were alleged to encourage them to increase their age during arraignment, deceiving them that it could help their cases.
He stressed the need to obey the law which requires that underage offenders and the innocent infants should be separated from the regular prison.
According to him, that would ensure their mental sanity and development.
The motion was overwhelmingly approved.
