Hundreds Of Inmates Escape After Heavy Rain Damaged Prisons

Prison illustration. (Unsplash/Hédi Benyounes)

JAKARTA - About 118 inmates escaped from prison after heavy rains Wednesday night damaged facilities in Suleja near the Nigerian capital, a prison service spokesman said.

Heavy rains, which lasted several hours, destroyed several parts of the prison with medium security, including perimeter walls and surrounding buildings, spokeswoman Adamu Duza said in a statement on Thursday.

Service agents are hunting down fugitives and have so far recaptured 10 of them with the help of other security agencies.

"We are chasing to recapture the rest," Duza said.

He further assured the public that the authorities were in the best condition.

"The public is also advised to be aware of escaped prisoners and report any suspicious movements to the nearest security agency," he said.

Duza did not provide details regarding the identities or affiliations of the escaped prisoners. But in the past, members of the Islamic rebel group Boko Haram have been locked up in Suleja prison.

"The National Service does not ignore the fact that many of its facilities were built during colonial times, and these facilities are old and weak," said Duza.

He added that the agency made "hard efforts" to modernize its prisons, including the construction of six facilities with a capacity of 3,000 people and improvements to existing facilities.

It is known that prison break-ins have become a major security concern in Nigeria due to overcrowding, lack of funds, and weak security measures have created conditions that make it possible to escape.

Thousands of inmates have fled in recent years due to weak infrastructure and militant attacks, particularly the ISIS attack in July 2022 in a high-security prison in the capital Abuja, where about 440 inmates were released.