Prison inmates in Zamfara Medium prison last weekend averted what could have been a major prison break by 10 inmates in the early hours of Sunday.
LEADERSHIP learnt that the prison atmosphere became chaotic when some of the inmates raised the alarm that 10 of their co-inmates have planned to escape from the prison.
It was leant from some eyewitness that the prisoners planned to escape through the walls of the prison which was heavily guarded by armed mobile policemen who immediately swung into action and re-arrested all of them and forced them back into custody.
The comptroller of the prisons service in the state, Alhaji Tahir Dabai who was contacted for comment over the issue, declined to respond, but however said, “I don’t really have much to tell the press at this moment.”
?Inside sources however confided in our correspondent that 10 inmates actually attempted to escape but the attempt was averted by the timely action of the prison authorities.? The anonymous source, explained that the escaping prisoners might have planned to escape out of frustration as all of them have spent long time awaiting trial, and “one of them has been here for over 19 years now without trial”.
He said out of the 600 inmates currently on remand, over 500 were on awaiting trial, and that a significant number of them have been on the awaiting list for many years.
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