BREAKING: 14 Inmates Escape From Keffi Prison, Six Years After Failed Mass Breakout

There has been a jailbreak at the Keffi Correctional Centre in Keffi, Nasarawa State, SaharaReporters has learnt.

Details of the incident were still sketchy at the time of filing this report, but sources told SaharaReporters that 14 inmates escaped from the facility.

“There has been a jailbreak in Keffi Prison and 14 prisoners escaped,” a prison source told SaharaReporters on Tuesday.

The latest incident comes nearly six years after a similar disturbance at the facility. On August 15, 2019, there were reports that no fewer than 50 inmates had attempted a mass jailbreak over alleged poor feeding and lack of medical facilities.

According to those reports, the inmates had repeatedly complained about inadequate food and poor medical care, which they claimed were affecting their health. It was learnt that it took the intervention of the Police, the IGP Special Technical Squad, and other security operatives deployed to the prison to quell the situation.

However, the prison authorities at the time denied that a jailbreak or escape attempt had occurred.

The then-Controller of the Nasarawa State Command of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Emmanuel Okoro, told reporters in Lafia that the incident was “a reaction by some angry prisoners who were not allowed to smoke cigarettes within the prison yard.”

He explained that inmates were refused access to cigarettes because it violated the Service’s regulations.

Mr. Okoro, who said he personally visited the facility after the incident, added that the smokers became aggressive until officials restrained them and restored order.

Efforts to reach the Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Umar Abubakar, were unsuccessful, as he neither answered calls to his mobile phone nor responded to messages sent to him.