At least 80 per cent of the prisoners who escaped from the Owerri Prison have refused to return five days after they escaped from the facility.
According to a source quoted by The Nation Newspaper: only about 80 prisoners have returned and majority of them are awaiting trial.
“About 17 of them returned on Tuesday and on Wednesday, we saw more than 20 returning back.
“But they are mainly those on awaiting trial, those who have less prison term and those who are about to complete their terms, have returned so far”.
”The problem we are having, and this is not peculiar to the jailbreak here, is that none of the hardened and condemned inmates (HCI) who escaped has returned.
“This is understandable because it will take a miracle for a person who knows that his execution can take place any moment, to return after his freedom was given to him freely by those who broke into the facility,” the source said.
“Most of the returnee inmates were escorted back by their parents, lawyers and relations.
“We are expecting that more will return by the weekend.
“Most of them want to return but they’re afraid that they might be manhandled by some security agents.
“We have very good inmates whose characters we can vouch for. That’s why we need to bring back the parole policy.”