The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has claimed that 12 inmates who escaped the Koton-Karfe Medium Security Custodial Centre, Kogi State, “manipulated padlocks” to gain freedom from the facility.

Via a statement on Monday, Abubakar Umar, the NCoS Public Relations Officer, confirmed that the prison doors were not enforced well enough to withstand external pressures or the prisoners had help.

His statement read in part, “The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) confirms a security breach at the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Koton-Karfe, Kogi State, which occurred in the early hours of Monday, 24 March, 2024.

“During the unfortunate incident, some inmates in a section of the facility manipulated the padlocks, leading to the escape of 12 inmates.”

This would mean at a time when inmates should be in their cells and away from the yard, they could get out of their locked cells and then make it out to the yard and either over a perimeter fence or through the gate without opposition.

Either reality means the prison was lacking in structural integrity.

READ MORE: 12 Inmates Escape Kogi Prison, One Officer Killed

In December 2021, Tony Ofoyetan, Director General of the International Institute of Professional Security, called for double-fencing in prisons to prevent jailbreaks.

He also claimed jailbreaks were made possible because internally, there were people aiding inmates in the process.

He said, “Improve the security of the facilities; an average jail should have a double fencing system. If you look at most of our prison system, it is a single fencing system, which makes it easy for criminals to scale the first wall, and they are out.

“Also, CCTV cameras are needed to be installed in all the correctional centres, and the control room may be centralised in a facility that is entirely outside the correctional centre, and you have a good response team on the ground.

“The electronic application of security in the correctional centre is next to zero and this is where the jailbreakers and their supporters can capitalise on.”

Although the NCoS said they had captured five of the fleeing inmates at press time, seven remain on the run.

Umar said that Sylvester Ndidi, the Acting Controller General of Corrections, ordered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the escape, and added that a security audit is being conducted across all correctional facilities nationwide to prevent future occurrences.

However, it is not the first time the service would be pledging such. It did so in 2022 when inmates broke out of the Kuje facility in Abuja and again in 2024 when a similar occurrence happened in Suleja, some distance away from Kuje.