The Nigerian Correctional Service has revealed that a total of 28,149 inmates were released last year nationwide after the payment of fines and compensations.

Deputy Controller-General of Corrections, Ibrahim Idris, disclosed this during the third public hearing of the Independent Investigative Panel on Alleged Corruption, Abuse of Power, Torture, and Other Inhumane Treatment against the Nigerian Correctional Service, held in Abuja, on Thursday.

He stated, “Last year, 28,149 inmates were released as a result of payment of fines and compensations. I also want to urge the panel and the public that payment of fine and compensation is a very charitable thing to do.”

Idris also praised the role of charitable interventions in decongesting correctional facilities.

“It helps the Federal Government a lot. But when an individual wants to do it, he should follow the example of the minister whereas inmates were chosen, and the compensation, the fine were paid, and the inmates were even given repatriation money,” he said

He noted that the fewer the inmates in custody, the better the opportunity for proper rehabilitation, adding, “Because even before the 2019 Act, the philosophy of Nigerian correctional services has always been imprisonment as a punishment, and not for punishment.

“While it is pronounced, it is already punishment, whether the person comes to the correctional centre or not, it is already taken care of.”