EU Report Warns of Deepening Security Crisis in Nigeria’s Prisons
A new report by the European Union Agency for Asylum has warned that Nigeria’s correctional system is facing worsening security threats, fuelled by a long-standing pattern of jailbreaks and structural weaknesses that have plagued custodial centres for more than a decade.
The report, published in November 2025 and obtained by Noblequestdaily, traces a surge in prison breaks to persistent security lapses and operational failures across the country’s detention network. It notes that “over the past decade, Nigeria has experienced a pattern of prison jailbreaks, resulting in thousands of inmates escaping correctional facilities nationwide.”
Citing evidence of overcrowding, deteriorating infrastructure, and inadequate funding, the assessment highlights how these systemic problems continue to undermine prison security. One of the latest incidents occurred in March 2025, when 12 inmates escaped from the Koton Karfe Medium Security Custodial Centre in Kogi State. Only five were rearrested. The report describes the facility as one of the most compromised in the country, having recorded four jailbreaks in 13 years and nearly 700 inmate escapes — including about 100 freed during a 2012 Boko Haram attack.
Observers referenced in the report blame recurrent breakouts on entrenched security gaps and possible insider collusion, worsened by attacks from armed groups such as Boko Haram. Beyond security breaches, the EU agency notes that Nigeria’s overcrowded prisons — more than 240 facilities housing over 80,000 inmates, two-thirds of whom are awaiting trial — continue to struggle with outdated infrastructure, slow judicial processes, poor living conditions, and systemic corruption.
International organisations have repeatedly raised concerns about Nigeria’s detention environment. Following a September 2024 inspection, the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture described conditions in many facilities as “abysmal,” pointing to inadequate food, sanitation, and healthcare. The UN also criticised Nigeria for failing to establish a National Preventive Mechanism, a key requirement of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, which the country ratified in 2009.
The Subcommittee urged the government to adopt urgent reforms to prevent torture, improve detention conditions — particularly in police facilities — and strengthen legal safeguards to curb impunity.
The EU report further flags Nigeria’s continued use of the death penalty, noting that although no executions have taken place since 2016, courts “regularly issue death sentences,” with 246 handed down in 2023 alone. The number of inmates on death row now exceeds 3,413, according to the document. The Nigerian Correctional Service reported a slightly higher figure of 3,833 by July 2025.
Recent legislative efforts have sparked additional concern. In May 2024, the Senate proposed raising the maximum penalty for drug trafficking from life imprisonment to death — a move opposed by several lawmakers, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, civil society groups, and legal experts. Critics argue that such proposals deepen reliance on capital punishment at a time when many states are reassessing its relevance.
The report warns that inconsistencies in the commutation of death sentences by state authorities have left many inmates in prolonged legal uncertainty. It also notes that detention conditions remain “harsh,” failing to meet UN minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners.
Media reports and data from the Nigerian Correctional Service show that thousands of inmates have escaped from at least 13 facilities between 2019 and 2025, including individuals awaiting trial for terrorism, armed robbery, and other serious crimes.
Amid rising public concern, Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Sylvester Nwakuche, recently pledged to enforce strict disciplinary action against officers found negligent in the series of jailbreaks that have occurred in recent years.
