Nigeria: 23 prison officers dismissed after jailbreaks

Published August 16, 2016

The board of Nigeria's Prisons Service is dismissing 23 officers from two prisons for allegedly colluding in jailbreaks.

Prisons Service spokesman Francis Enobore says the board also is suspending 11 officers while it investigates escapes from a third prison.

Jailbreaks are common in Nigeria, where prison guards are easily bribed. A new controller-general of prisons has promised to halt that.

Enobore said those dismissed include three senior officers at Kuje medium-security prison in Lagos, which houses many high-profile suspects in corruption cases being pursued by President Muhammadu Buhari's government. The jailbreak in June involved two men accused of kidnapping, raping and killing a woman.

In July, 13 inmates escaped from Koton Karfe prison in central Kogi state. Six have been hunted down and returned to prison.

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