At the Old Suleja Prison in Nigeria, a dramatic prison break occurred amidst a heavy rainstorm, resulting in extensive damage to the prison fence. The intense rainfall on Wednesday evening caused severe destruction to the perimeter fence of the prison, enabling 118 inmates to escape, as reported by Daily Trust.
The aftermath of the adverse weather conditions had a devastating impact on the Suleja Medium Security Detention Center in Niger State and its adjacent structures. The Federal Territory Command (FCT) spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS) Administration, Adam Duza, confirmed that the calamity led to the successful escape of the inmates.
An official statement revealed that “a fierce thunderstorm that raged for hours on the night of Wednesday, April 24, 2024, wreaked havoc at the Suleja Medium Security Detention Center in Niger State, causing significant damage to the prison’s facilities, including its perimeter fence, which facilitated the escape of a total of 118 inmates.”
During the thunderstorm, part of the fence at the old Suleja prison in Niger State collapsed, creating an opportunity for an unspecified number of prisoners to escape. The heavy rain around 9 p.m. damaged sections of the facility, breaching the interior barrier of a cell where the detainees were housed, leading to their escape.
Local residents in Suleja recounted an incident on a stormy night which resulted in a collapse of a fence that was under repair. While the exact number of escaped prisoners remains unclear, security reinforcements managed to apprehend some of them.
Authorities swiftly dispatched security teams to strategic locations and sensitive areas in Suleja to track down the remaining fugitive detainees. This brazen escape underscores the security vulnerabilities within prisons, emphasizing the urgent need to bolster security protocols to prevent such incidents in the future.
This tragic event underscores the critical importance of maintaining robust and secure prison infrastructure to deter escapes and safeguard both inmates and the public. It is imperative for the relevant authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the prison break and implement necessary measures to prevent similar occurrences in the future.