Prisoners’ Rights Advocacy Initiative (PRAI) upon invitation by the Lagos State Judiciary attended the 3 days Correctional Centres Decongestion Exercise by the Hon. Chief Judge of Lagos State( Hon.Justice Kazeem O.Alogba ) to release deserving inmates on compassionate grounds.
On the first day, Tuesday, 30th of June 2020, 18 inmates were released from Kirikiri Medium Custodial Centre. On the second day, Wednesday, 1st of July 2020 38 inmates were released from Ikoyi and Badagry Custodial Centres and
on the final day, Thursday 2nd of July 2020 , 24 inmates were released from Kirikiri Maximum Custodial Centre and Female Custodial Centre.
The Director of PRAI, Mr. Ahmed Adetola -Kazeem, appreciated the Chief Judge and the committee in charge of the decongestion exercise for releasing 80 inmates and improving on the last edition where only 15 inmates were released. He also appreciated the Chief Judge for responding to PRAI’s letter of 13th March 2020 by considering those who have allegedly committed serious offences but have been in Prison for over 5 years without trial.
He further urged the Chief Judge and the Controller of Correctional Service to give effect to the innovative provisions of Section 12 of the Nigeria Correctional Service Act 2019 in order to ensure that there is consistent monitoring of inflow of inmates and to ensure that the Custodial Centres are not unduly overcrowded.
He used the opportunity to urge the Chief Judge to encourage the Governor of Lagos State to build at least a 5000 capacity Custodial facility in view of the population of Lagos State and considering that the present combine capacity is 4,087 but hold over 9000 inmates.