Trouble broke out at the Jos Correctional Centre, Plateau State on Friday as inmates took to violence inside the facility in clamorous protest over information that the menu plan for rice and beans has been reduced amid rising price of the staple food.
According to report coming out of the Centre, in the menu plan rice and beans is usually consumed by inmates four times in a week.
However, the communication by the prison authorities that hence forth it won’t be business as usual due to general food-price-increase vexed the prisoners.
Their vexation found expression, as they hurled stones and other useful objects at the officials prompting the latter to resort to firing gunshots into the air to prevent the situation from escalating.
The measure proved fruitful, bringing the situation under control and restored normalcy.
Confirming the incident, the Comptroller of Corrections, Plateau State Command, Mr. Raphael Ibihunwa in a statement attributed to him acquainted the general public with the incident saying, “This morning, as usual, I went to the yard to see what was going on there. I saw an officer addressing the inmates, and when I asked what was going on, he told me he was briefing them on the outcome of his conversation with the contractor that is billed to supply them food this month.
“He said the contractor stated that he would not be able to feed them rice four times a week any longer because of the high cost of food items and could only cope by reducing it to twice a week.
“The proposal for last year was that inmate feeding should increase, which has not taken off. So when he called them this morning to explain things to them, they didn’t like it.
“When I was informed, I told him to tell them to get back to their rooms, but they refused to go back.
“So when they remained adamant, some canisters of tear gas were released and gunshots were fired into the air to force them into their rooms.
“That was how we were able to save the situation. Before that, they had started throwing stones and other objects at the staff.”
