Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has said that between 30% and 50% of offences committed by inmates in correctional centres across Africa do not warrant imprisonment.
Speaking at the Regional Conference on the Classification of Prisoners and the Use of Technology in Prisons in Africa in Abuja, the minister urged correctional authorities to take a hard look at the real causes of prison congestion.
According to him, authorities must ask a fundamental question: Are correctional facilities truly overcrowded because of crime, or because too many people are being incarcerated for offences that could be handled through alternative measures?
Tunji-Ojo called for improved prisoner classification and greater use of technology to strengthen correctional systems, reduce unnecessary incarceration, and promote more effective justice across the continent.
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