The Gombe chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has secured the release of 23 prison inmates after paying their fines.
Mr Haruna Kamara, the state NLC Chairman who led a delegation of the group on a visit to the Gombe prison on Wednesday also donated food items to the inmates.
He said that, the gesture was part of their activities to mark the 40thanniversary of the NLC.
“As part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the NLC, we feel it was good for us to extend our hands of friendship especially to the less-privileged in Gombe state.
“We spent N200,000 to off set the fines to facilitated release of 23 inmates and provided food items for the benefit of the prison inmates.
“we have inspected the prison and witnessed the deplorable condition of the prison and we made some donation”, he said.
He said the items donated by the NLC included eight mats, 200 buckets, 200 food flasks, 200 spoons, three cartoons of washing soap, three cartoons of bathing soap and five bags of detergent.
He the state executive council of the NLC made the donation as part of activities to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the NLC.
Kamara called on other organisations and wealthy individuals to contribute towards decongestion and improvement of amenities in the prison.
What we have is unbearable condition of the prison hence the call on the authority concerned to improve prisons in this country to make them serve as true rehabilitation centers.
“The prison inmates should be treated with high level of humility and responsibility so that when they regain freedom they become better members of the society”, he said.
Ibrahim Gide, Deputy Comptroller in-charge of Gombe prisons commended the NLC for the donation and assured that the items would be used for the purpose they were given.
The freed inmates were presented with undisclosed amount of money to transport themselves to their respective towns and villages.
