Hundreds of people are languishing in prisons, including the Maximum Security Prisons, even though their cases have not been tried in a court of law. These people who have not been declared guilty or sentenced by a judge spend years “awaiting trial” and it is often the case that some of them are innocent of the crimes they are accused of.
The new Chief Judge of Lagos State, Adeyoola Phillip yesterday freed 233 inmates awaiting trial at the Kirikiri Prisons in Lagos.
The inmates had spent between four and twelve years in Prison without any sentencing. While 130 prison inmates awaiting trial were freed from the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison, 103 were freed from the Kirikiri Medium Security Prison.
According to Premium Times, the alleged criminals were ecstatic when they were called to be released. The description of their reaction when they were called was truly emotional.
Who wouldn't be Anywayz???? Na wa
It is sad that such a large number of people were in prison for a long period of time awaiting trial.
The Deputy Controller of the Medium Prison, DCP Tunde Ladipo noted in another report that 2,370 out of the 2,502 inmates of the prison were awaiting trial.
For the State Government to fish out these 233 people, it might have been ascertained that they were innocent of their accused crimes or there wasn’t enough evidence to prove they were guilty.
It is not fair to allow people spend years in prison for crimes they are innocent of.
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