The statistics of inmates in Nigeria is one of the major driving forces for us at AHI and we are working tirelessly with various stakeholders including the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria to bring this number down to the recommended capacity.
The recent statistics issued by the National Bureau of Statistics is quite alarming and gives credence to the urgent need for reforms within the prison system. In Lagos State, there is a staggering number of Un-sentenced detainees and based on a 2015 data, there are about 5,603 un-sentenced detainees out of a prison population of 6,522 ,– the highest in the country. Rivers and Edo States follow closely with 3,625 and 2,434 un-sentenced detainees. In reality, the actual prison capacity for Lagos State ought to be 3,897 while Kano and Rivers States prison population is 4, 082 and 4,054 instead of an actual prison capacity of 1,840 and 1,354 respectively.
The overall prison population in the country as at October 2019 was 74,081 while the total awaiting trial stood at 51,380 which translates to 69.3%. The graph below shows the statistics for 2015 by Regions, with un-sentenced inmates being as high as 72.53% of the entire prison population.
- National Bureau of Statistics – Report on the Number of Un-Sentenced Detainees and Overall
- Prison Population by State and Year 2011 – 2015 (issued January 2017)
- National Bureau of Statistics – Crime Statistics: Nigerian Prisons (issued April 2016)
- National Bureau of Statistics – Report on the Number of Un-Sentenced Detainees and Overall Prison Population by State and Year 2011 – 2015 (issued January 2017)
