The Chief Judge of Bayelsa State, Justice Kate Abiri, Thursday ordered the immediate release of eight prisoners from the Medium Security Custodian Centre, Nigerian Correctional Service, Okaka in Yenagoa, the state capital following over congestion complaints.
Justice Kate Abiri, however, called on judges in the state to appropriate machinery for the speedy disposition of criminal matters especially for those awaiting trial.
The State Chief Judge, Justice Kate Abiri, who gave the order during a jail delivery exercise at the Medium Security Custodian Centre, Nigerian Correctional Service, Okaka on Wednesday, noted that the exercise was aimed at decongesting the prisons.
Justice Abiri said that some inmates, who are awaiting trial ought not to remain in custody where matters for which they are charged were not murder or armed robbery, adding that where it discovered that the prosecution of the cases is moving at slow pace or not heard at all for one reason or the other, bail could be granted.
Justice Abiri, who was accompanied by some members of the bench and bar, also used the Jail Delivery Exercise to donate food items, toiletries and disinfectants to the Medium Security Custodian Centre, Nigerian Correctional Service, Okaka.
The Controller of Correctional Service in the State, Edoghotu Nathan, commended the State Chief Judge, Justice Kate Abiri for the gesture, but however lamented that most of the custodian centres are congested with inmates, saying that if in the next three month the centres are not decongested it will stop admitting new inmates to the centres.
The Chairperson of the Nigerian Bar Association, Sagbama Branch, Barr. Dise Ogbise-Erhisere commended the Chief Judge of Bayelsa State, Justice Kate Abiri for the jail delivery exercise which saw the discharge of five inmates from the Okaka Correctional facility, which is geared towards decongesting the correctional facility particular with the Covid 19 pandemic which is threatening the world.
“We also thank the Chief Judge for her assurance on the speedy dispensation of criminal matters in our judiciary. The CJ further directed all courts to commence sitting and to hear criminal matters, particularly custody cases, that will go a long way to further decongest the facility.”
