Law Of Torture And Confession

Law Of Torture And Confession, Prisoners Welfare And Rehabilitation

Anthony Okosun

The recent report by the United Nations Rapporteur on Torture that Nigeria routinely torture and ill treat suspects is shameful, embarrassing, disgraceful, opprobrious, scandalous and outrageous. According to Mr. Manfred Nowak, the U. N. Rapporteur, " Police shoot prisoners, beat them and hung them from the ceiling for long periods. . . . . . . detainees in Nigerian police cells were frequently tortured to extract confessions. . . . . . flogging with whips, beatings with batons and machetes shooting suspects in the foot, threatening suspects with death and shooting them with power cartridges. . . . . . . . suspension from the ceiling or metal rods in various positions and being denied food , water and medical treatment. . . torture is an intrinsic part of how law enforcement services operate within the country (Nigeria)". The conditions described hereinabove are scurrilous, odious, barbaric, bestial, brutal, cannibalistic and savage manifestation of man's inhumanity to man.

Nigerian citizens must not be dehumanized, debased, degraded nor made victims of cruelty nor sadism. Confessions must be voluntary. Confessions no matter how voluntary are automatically unacceptable if a suspect's fundamental human rights are violated to extract such confessions. It is unconstitutional to compel any person in a criminal case to be a witness or give evidence against himself. At any stage of criminal proceedings and process the rights of suspects and accused persons must not be violated. Suspects are constitutionally entitled to due process rights. Confessions must be free and by choice. There must be no confession obtained by torture nor coercion. There must be no psychological coercion. There must be no physical coercion. Nigeria's Constitution prohibits undue delay in criminal procedure and any confession, no matter how voluntary if extracted by long delays in detention and or trial process must be regarded as null, void and of no effect whatsoever. Suspects must be taken before magistrates, Court Presidents or Judges without delay. Interrogation must not be done by relay teams. Suspect must not be held incommunicado, suspects must be read their rights before questioning, police must stop questioning as soon as suspect request to have a lawyer. Suspect must be informed of their rights to have a lawyer and of their right to remain silent. Prosecutors must be prohibited from using illegally obtained evidence during trial. Defense lawyers must apply to suppress or expunge illegally obtained evidence during trial. The state must provide indigent suspects and accused persons with pro bono attorneys.

To discourage the police from torturing suspects, our courts must take evidence from both the accused persons and the investigating police officers as to the following; background of the suspect, intelligence of the suspect, education of the suspect, prior experience with the system, physical condition of the suspect, mental condition of the suspect, coping skills of the suspect with the interrogation, location of the setting of questioning, lenght of the questioning, intensity of the questioning, frequency of the questioning, food and sleep deprivation and intimidation of suspect by police officers.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation "Prisons in Nigeria are notorious with many of the countries 40, 000 inmates crammed into massively overcrowded cells in old prisons. . . . . . . the most shocking statistic is that some two third of all the prisoners in Nigeria have not been convicted of any crime. . . . . . some people have waited for their trial for more than a decade. Their files had been lost, they were forgotten. " Here we are talking about Nigerian citizens entitled to fundamental human rights who have just been locked away for over a decade with no qualms nor questions whatsoever. These are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and sons and daughters. Why and how did Nigeria degenerate to such abysmal low level of barbarism, brutishness, inhumanity, ruthlessness, sadism, savageness and viciousness. What type of government do we have that tolerates, encourages and condones a system that allows Nigerians who have not been convicted for any offence to be kept incommunicado like beasts away from the society so whimsically and capriciously. It is only in Nigeria that an accused is treated as guilty untill proved innocent, against the universal holding that an accused is innocent until proven guilty. If a Nigerian citizen is reasonably suspected of having commiited a crime, he should be given speedy trial, for justice delayed is justice denied. It is absurd and a travesty of justice for the police to keep innocent and or probably guilty Nigerians in their detention gulags while fishing for evidence upon which to prosecute such detainees.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation "Human Rights Groups say inmates often fall ill, some die from a lack of adequate medical treatment. Many cells have no beds or mattresses, the inmates sleep on concrete floors. Securing a blanket or a mat to sleep on is a luxury. . . . . . . Food is basic and the ration small, usually a bowl of beans in the morning and cassava in the afternoon and evening. Some rely on their families to bring food to the prison. . . . former inmates say money can buy better conditions, the guards taking their cut. " Whether convicted or awaiting trial, persons under incarceration must be treated as human beings. It is the shame of a nation among the comity of civilise nations, when citizens who have or are alleged to have run amiss of the law are treated as bad as our prison system and the police treats Nigerians who are detained.

The BBC quoting the United States, State Department states " Prison officials, police and security forces often deny inmates food and medical treatment as a form of punishment or to exert money from them. " Only the heavens know the exact number of inmates who die yearly as result of ill and dehumanising treatment or outright killing of inmates in Nigeria's detention centers.

Punishment must not be enforced on detained persons unless they are convicted persons and must be strictly in accordance with court judgements. Punishment should be reformatory, meaning to correct, transform, adjust, adapt or to reshape the character and behaviour of the convicted persons. This is in contradistinction with retributive punishment which is another word for an eye for an eye. Retributive punishment must be discouraged as it is sadistic vengeance, retaliation that does nothing to make the convicted person a better citizen. In civilise societies prisoners leave prisons as better and reformed persons. There are numerous reports of prisoners acquiring graduate and post graduate degrees while in the penitentiary. These are common reports in America, Europe and Asia. In Nigeria prisoners get worse. A petty thief gets locked up in a Nigerian jail and returns home as a more sophisticated and violrent deviant ; with the skills to commit armed robbery, rape, murder, arson or some other horrible felony.

How did the Nigerian penal system degenerate so badly? Billions of naira are voted annually for the maintenance of detainees and for the general running of the prison system and the police force. How much of that sum actually go into the system ? Nigeria's president Olusegun Obasanjo was himself a detainee not too long ago. However from all indications, it seems he has forgotten so soon, his own experience in detention. His gaunt and ghostly look while he was still fresh from prison should be a reminder to him (if he kept pictures of his look then )that he owes every Nigerian in prison or police detention cell a sacred duty to ensure that they are well treated and given fair and speedy trial for those awaiting trial or appellate hearing. Consider the fact that Olusegun Obasanjo is widely believed to have been framed by Sani Abacha, the terrible dictator who wanted Baba kept away from the outside world as a way of stopping him from campaigning for a quick end to Abacha's dictatorship. The irony is that Obasanjo has forgotten and has failed to realise that there are thousands of detainees today in Nigeria, who like him are innocent. Majority of them have no lawyers . Virtually all of them do not even know their rights. How could Olusegun Obasanjo have missed it so badly?

As a first step to redressing the prison overcrowding and undue detention problem, all those who had already spent more time in prison than their prospective sentences should be let out along with the elderly, the terminally sick and those who are HIV positive. Police and prison guards must be trained to treat detained persons as human beings not animals. Monies voted for the welfare of prisoners and awaiting trial detainees must be judiciously spent for that purpose. There must be a mechanism in place to ensure that corruption and mismanagement do not conflagrate these funds.

Prisoners must be trained, mentored and assisted with tools, equipments and finances to enable them re-enter normal society. The stigma, family and public rejection and shame of being an ex-convict makes it extremely difficult for them to get employment. If they are trained in prison to acquire skills and assisted with grants and soft loans and given managerial supervision in their first few years in post prison self-employment life, many of them will never return to prison nor a life of criminality.

Anthony Okosun (tonyosun@yahoo. co. uk) writes from the U. S. A.