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NIGERIA
‘WAITING FOR THE HANGMAN’
25
4/LIFE ON DEATH ROW: CRUEL
AND INHUMAN
‘We live in a confused world of mixed thoughts
and fear.’
Death row inmate in Kaduna prison
LIVING CONDITIONS
The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos ruled in 1996 that the human rights of prisoners
under sentence of death should be respected. 94 Much has improved since this
judgment. Cells are less overcrowded. Most death row prisoners are nowadays allowed
outside their cell on a daily basis. Some are allowed to work, others are not. However,
for many death row prisoners, conditions are still harsh. In 2007, the Presidential
Commission on Reform of the Administration of Justice (PCRAJ) concluded:
“The Commission is concerned about the deplorable condition under which
inmates on death row are imprisoned. We note that the average period spent on
death row by prison inmates is between 10-15 years. We also note that many of
these persons have been diagnosed for various ailments, common among which
is mental disorder.”
In general, the death row cells are old and small. In Enugu prison for example, the
cells are 7 by 8 feet, shared by three to five people, dark and with hardly any
ventilation. One death row prisoner in Enugu prison said: The time I came here [in
1992] we were 11 people in this one room” pointing at his small cell. 95 There is no
toilet, apart from the bucket. One former death row prisoner remembered: “You had
Index: AFR 44/020/2008 Amnesty International October 2008