ABUJA -- At least 119 inmates escaped Wednesday night from a custodial center damaged by heavy rains in central Nigeria, an official said Thursday.

Ten of the escaped inmates from the Suleja Custodial Center, in the north-central state of Niger, were recaptured and taken back into custody, Samson Duza, a Nigerian Correctional Service spokesman in the central region, said in a statement.

Nigeria has witnessed a series of jailbreaks in recent years, prompting the government to launch an audit of prison facilities in the country to fix their vulnerabilities.