The Nigerian Prisons Service, Cross River State Command, has disclosed that the Awaiting Trial Female (ATF) inmate of the Afokang Prison, Calabar (name withheld), who was delivered of twins on April 17, has died.
A statement by the Public Relations Officer of the Command, ASP Effanga Etim, said she gave birth through Caesarean section to a boy and a girl but died on April 19 due to complications.
The command debunked reports that she gave birth inside the prison, insisting that she delivered at the General Hospital in Calabar, where she had been receiving regular ante-natal care.
“The Nigeria Prisons Service, Cross River State Command has received with dismay media reports insinuating that an ATF inmate of Calabar Prison was delivered of twins inside the prison facility.
“The report is not true as the said inmate was remanded by a High Court in Calabar on November 5, 2018 with six month-old pregnancy for the offence of child stealing.
“While in prison, she had been under regular ante-natal care at the General Hospital, Calabar.
“On April 17, 2019 at about 1:30pm when her labour began, she was admitted in the same hospital and a caesarean section was carried out on her.
“With the intervention of the Commissioner for Health and efforts of the prison authorities to provide the funds needed for the caesarean section, the said inmate was delivered of twins: a boy and a girl.
“However, due to complications arising from the caesarean section, she was referred to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) for further management where she died on April 19.”
“The command wishes to state emphatically that for the past four, there has not been any delivery in the Calabar prison infirmary,” the command said in the statement.