About 153 of 734 inmates in the awaiting trial section of Enugu Prisons escaped from the prisons, the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Prisons said. One of the prisoners fell to his death, after jumping over the high fence of the prisons.
Two other inmates are said to have been killed and 36 female prisoners were raped by the inmates and 20 prison wardens were also seriously injured.
The raped female inmates were reportedly left lying naked in different locations in the prison yard before they were found and rushed them to a hospital for treatment.
“Only one mentally-deranged female inmate in a separate cell was left untouched”, a source said.
The Comptroller-General of Nigeria Prisons said that the 734 awaiting trial inmates “have been agitated because of slow judicial process” and “But you know, having over 700 Awating Trial Inmates, it takes a long time and so the Chief Judge promised coming back on the 5th of June this year for another set of jail delivery.
You know inmates, everybody wants his case to be heard as soon as possible. And so this agitation was the primary cause of this jailbreak; around midnight, they broke the ceiling, got to the yard; broke down some of the security measures and there was a massive escape of prisoners.”
“As I am talking to you, about 150 inmates awaiting trial broke their cells and we were able to recapture with the help of the police and other security operatives 130 immediately. And presently, the remaining 20 we are on their trail, we are still bringing them back,”
“As I am talking to you, the situation is fully under control. The yard is calm. I have gone round and I have seen those in the hospital; they are being treated. I assure you that everything is under control.”
"We have 77 inmates on the death row. I must commend them that not a single one of them participated in the jail break,”
“The problem we have is that we are battling with archaic structures. The federal government is trying its best. If you look inside the yard you will see that we are putting up a storey building to replace the old ones,”
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