Chief Judge of Ogun State, Justice Mosunmola Dipeolu, has ordered the release of 100 prison inmates from the five correctional centres in the state to decongest the prisons as part of a three-day Jail Delivery Exercise concluded on Friday.
The exercise, which commenced on Wednesday, prompted the release of 36 inmates from the Sagamu Correctional Centre, with 32 others regaining their freedom on Thursday from the Old Abeokuta Correctional Centre in Ibara, as well as the New Correctional Centre in Oba, both in Abeokuta.
The 32 others, which comprised 16 inmates each from the Ilaro and Ijebu-Ode facilities, completed the figure for the exercise after a thorough review of their cases by the CJ, Dipeolu, who was accompanied by some judges and magistrates.
LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that the lucky inmates were set free on the grounds of either old age, inability of the prosecuting team to locate their files, or witnesses were no longer forthcoming.
Other affected inmates included those that have been in the prison custody as far back as 2017, 2019 or 2020 and their cases were no longer ongoing.
Commenting on their releases, the Chief Judge explained that the Jail Delivery Exercises are in line with the state government’s efforts to decongest correctional centres across the state.
She also disclosed that the release of some of the affected inmates was based on health issues and in addition to those whose detention periods had stayed for long years without any ongoing proceedings.
“It’s part of the duty of the Honourable Chief Judge to go on jail delivery exercises like once in a while; quarterly and decongest the prisons. Only one was released here in Oba due to old age and of course, the DPP says he has no case to answer, while the others have been in custody for many years.
“It’s either their case files cannot be located or witnesses are not forthcoming, for as far back as 2017, 2019, 2020, they have been in custody and their cases are not going on. So, there is no point keeping them here and feeding them on taxpayers money,” she stated.