Admin I Saturday, July 15, 2023
LAGOS – Not less than thirty prisoners have been set free by the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba. The prisoners were released 30 from the custody of the Correction Centres in Lagos and Ogun states. Those granted freedom included four young boys from Adigbe Forster Home, Ogun state who were minors as the time they committed the offence for which they were arrested.
Some them have been in prison custody since 2013 before they were granted freedom yesterday. The programme held under the Decongestion of the Custodial Centres Exercise 2023 at Justice Samuel Ilori Court House, Ogba.
Justice Alogba granted them freedom pursuant to powers conferred on him under Section 1(1) of the Criminal Justice Release from Custody Special Provision Act.24 Feb 2022 and provisions of Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2019 of Lagos State. He admonished them to sin no more. Justice Alogba explained that the exercise was carried out to ensure that the inmates do not stay in prison longer they would have served if convicted.
“It is for this reason and so many other reasons that the exercise is put up and this is the reason why the exercise doesn’t hold too frequently”, he said. Justice Alogba commended the Justice Adenike Coker led committee that looked into the case of those released for doing a thorough job.
“Since it is a matter required by law, we must be diligent in carrying out the exercise. The members of the committee have done excellently well. Justice Alogba described the case of the freed inmates as a systemic failure.
“Failure not because the courts are not sitting but failure as a result of hitches in the course of prosecuting offenders.” Justice Alogba emphasized that he was not releasing the inmates because he has just come back from the holy pilgrimage.
“I am not a father christmas. The exercise we are witnessing today is a self cleansing exercise as provided for in the law. The committee has gone through due process in carrying out the exercise. I would still insist on due process and diligence in all that we do”, he said.
The Controller of Nigeria Correction Service (NCS), Ben Freedman, in his address disclosed that about 9,000 inmates are in three Correctional Centres in the state.
Freedman who was represented by the Deputy Controller, Nigeria Correctional Services (NCS), Lagos Command, (DCC)Comfort Obiosio, urged the chief judge to use his good office to see that privileges were given to some remorseful inmates in order to decongest the Custodial centres.
“We have almost 9,000 locked up in Lagos and we hope the Chief Judge uses his good office to free those qualified and decongest the facilities,” Obiosio said.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Police, (CP) Idowu Owohunwa, represented by the Deputy Commissioner for police, DCP Waheed Ayilara, said that the Nigeria Police has a partner in justice system, would continue to ensure due process in carryout their services.
He also urged the Chief Judge to make the exercise a continuous one in order to reduce the number of inmates in the prison noting that the maximum capacity should be about 1, 500.
“We can not continue to keep the 9,000 inmates as it is highly unbearable.
“Those who are about to get freedom today must have learned one or two lessons. Being in correctional centres do not mean you can not be re-integrated back to the society. The police will continue to be diligent in their investigation in order to help with the decongestion,” Ayilara assured.