80 prisoners develop psychiatric problems in Abia prisons

No fewer than 80 inmates serving various jail terms in Abia prison have gone insane.

The Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Prisons Service, Abia Command, Deputy Superintendent of Prisons (DSP) Kalu Ikpe, about 80 insane persons in its asylum.

Ikpe made this disclosure this while addressing newsmen on Friday in Aba.

 

                                                           
“Sometimes even here in Umuahia where there is no asylum, we receive them but when after sometimes we observe a strange behaviour, we do a referral and send them to Aba where there is an asylum,’’ he said.

He added that the prison was taking care of the insane persons to ensure that they were stabilised enough to enable them answer their respective charges in court.

“Those who are not normal are put under observation and are made to see psychiatric doctors who work daily to ensure that their drugs are administered.

“You know that the prison inmates are our brothers, so we cannot abandon them,” he said.

The prisons boss noted that getting the insane inmates out of the prison, where necessary, was the duty of the Chief Judge and the courts which committed them to the prisons.
“In a situation where the individual’s case becomes worse or unmanageable by us, we alert the courts who committed them to our care.

“Depending on the nature of the alleged crime committed by the inmates, they are the people that can take decisions on their matters,” he said.

Ikpe said taking them to court depended on the degree of their mental health status.