By Glory Ugochukwu
The Imo state government has concluded plans to relocate and upgrade the facilities at the Correctional Centre in the state capital following the recent attack by gunmen on the existing centre near the government house.
It would be recalled that April 5, gunmen attacked the facility freeing nearly 2000 inmates.
Consequently, the commissioner for special project and the commissioner for housing have been instructed to inspect the new correctional centre built by the Okorocha administration which was yet to be put to use because of some inadequacies and get it ready for utilization.
Commissioner for Special Project Hon (Barr) Kingsley Ononuju, while speaking to newsmen said that “in line with the 3R’s policy (rehabilitating, reconstructing, and recovery) of the present administration led by Governor Hope Uzodimma, and in view of what happened a month ago about the correctional centre, the governor in his wisdom had said that time has come for the centre to be relocated appropriately to the new centre at Port Harcourt road.”
He also said that it is for this reason that his colleague from the Ministry of Housing, Hon. Mrs., Love Ineh and himself had come to see the extent of work done there and from what they had seen, that the building is substandard, adding that the effort to beef up the facilities is needed urgently.
The former Commissioner for Trade and Industry also indicated that in the whole building there are no toilet facilities in the office areas. An engineer in the team stated the new correctional centre has 66 cell units; this is to accommodate 18 inmates per unit.
Each cell unit should have a toilet and a bathroom; each block has a laundry room.
The commissioner for the ministry of housing, Dr. Love Ineh while speaking said that the impression is that “in as much as that they want to bring the prisoners to the new correctional centre, that we should also know that they are not animals. They cannot be put in any kind of place and they are here to make sure that the place is also good for them, so that is why they have brought people from the prisons to come and inspect the place with them.’’
Continuing she said that the place is not good enough to be called a correctional centre compared to other correctional centre in other states. This is the reason we are here to make sure that we put the necessary facilities to provide a very comfortable environment for the prisons.
Assistant controller correctional centers, Owerri zone, Onyema Ejifor, in his speech, said that welfare and security is a problem for them.
