A female prisons staff attached to Kirikiri Female Prisons, Lagos, has been dismissed from the service for smuggling alcoholic drinks into the prison yard.
The dismissal letter signed on behalf of the Comptroller-General of Prisons by the officer-in-charge of discipline, DCP Agun Olatunji (Esq.), stated that the staff was found guilty of negative activities, which borders on trafficking, an act that contravenes the enabling provisions of Sections 14 (i) (a) and Section 82 (n) of Prisons Act Cap P.29 LFN 2004 and punishable under Sections 14 (i) (g) and Section 83 of same Act.
Trafficking, in prisons parlance, is the act of smuggling prohibited item(s) or unauthorised information into or out of the prison yard. The offence is usually viewed seriously because of its potential threat to security.
The statement said:” Cases of inmates making illegal phone calls from their cells, organising jail breaks, having access to weapons, among others, are all traced to trafficking sometimes perpetrated by staff, which often embarrass not only the service, but the nation at large.
“Such compromising acts, no doubt, do not augur well for the security of a custodial institution such as the Prisons Service and also put the lives of innocent staff and inmates in serious danger. “The arrest of the wardress is an indication of the dawn of a new era in prison management, and justification for the recent mass re-deployment of officers and men nationwide.”
