Lagos CJ Frees 31 Prison Inmates

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Lagos CJ Frees 31 Prison Inmates

By Correspondent

 The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Oluwafunmilayo Atilade, continued her prison amnesty exercise on Thursday, by releasing 31 inmates from Ikoyi Prison. Justice Atilade had earlier on Wednesday released 153 inmates from the Kirikiri Maximum and Medium prisons. The CJ advised the freed inmates never to return to crime again. ”˜Those of you that have been released today should see this as an opportunity for a new beginning.  You must henceforth be of good behaviour and never return to crime,’ she said to them. She further expressed her determination to continue with the decongestion of the prisons. She said that she will continue to review cases of inmates who have no business being in prison. ”˜The purpose of carrying out this exercise is to achieve a reduction of the awaiting trial population in the prisons. Situations, where cases are allowed to unnecessarily drag on in court, will no longer be tolerated,’ she said. The CJ further directed the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) to always provide detailed information about the awaiting trial inmates to the Prison Decongestion Committee. Justice Atilade also asked the DPP to come up with a mechanism where case files of inmates could be accessed easily and reviewed by the committee. The Deputy Comptroller in charge of Ikoyi Prison, Julius Ezeugwu in his remark noted that in spite of a large number of awaiting trial inmates in Ikoyi Prison, the facility personnel have continued to make the place a truly reformatory prison. ”˜Your lordship, it is pertinent at this juncture to state that the total number of inmates as at today stands at 2295 out of which Awaiting Trial Inmates (ATM) constitutes 2009 inmates. This constitutes about 90 percent while the convicted inmates are just 286 inmates. This is about 10 percent in a prison with a lock up capacity of 800 inmates’, he said. Ezeugwu noted that Ikoyi Prison is run as a full correctional institute for reformation and rehabilitation of offenders in contrast to the erroneous impression or notion of Nigerian prisons as mere warehouses for criminal elements or dungeons.

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