A total of 114 condemned inmates at Kaduna Central Prison, the Controller, Mr Abubakar Garba, said in Kaduna on Thursday. Garba made the disclosure when Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State visited the prison at the instance of President Muhammadu Buhari. The controller said that 11 of the condemned inmates, including a woman, were from Kaduna State.

He, however, appealed to the governor to commute the death sentence of the 11 inmates to life imprisonment in line with section 212 of the Constitution. The controller expressed concern that over 800 out of the 1,000 inmates were awaiting trial at the prison constructed since 1915 meant for only 547 prisoners.

“The prison is also suffering challenges in conveying inmates to and from courts as we have just two functional and two grounded vehicles for the above 800 inmates awaiting trial. “This poses a great threat on the citizens of the state since too many inmates are conveyed at a time to and from courts, exposing them to attacks by unsuspecting hoodlums,’’ he said.

Garba said that in spite of its numerous challenges, the prison facility had strived to render educational, vocational, religious and social welfare services to the inmates to make them better citizens. “The prison is privileged to be one of the study centres of the National Open University of Nigeria and has two inmates.

“The inmates are currently running degree programmes in Political Science and Computer Science,’’ the controller said. According to him, the prison has 11 training workshops in leather works, carpentry, welding, tailoring, and plumbing, among others. He said it was through the workshop the inmates learn new skills to live on their own after their release.

He, however, appealed to the governor to assist in providing training materials especially in tailoring, knitting, hair dressing, shampoo making and laundry. “It would be most appreciated if some of these workshops are expanded to accommodate more trainee-inmates,’’ he added.

Responding, El-Rufai said that he would champion the cause for prisons decongestion in the country. He said that the visit was to assess the condition of the facility and know where the government needed to immediately intervene to improve conditions there. El-Rufai pledged to mobilise other governors to adopt common strategy towards enhancing condition of prisons and to decongest the facilities nationwide.

“We will be coming from time to time to assess the condition of the prison,’’ he said and promised to support in enhancing its training capacity. “We are particularly interested in the improvement of vocational and skills acquisition within the prison,’’ the governor added. He pledged that his administration would work toward engaging the youth in productive ventures that would take them away from crime.