Legal experts have urged the federal government to expedite actions on criminal cases to decongest the overpopulated prisons across the country.
The Program Director, Network of University Legal Aid Institutions (NULAI), Odi Lagi, made the charge in Abuja at a two-day workshop on the role of Law Clinics in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).
She said the high number of pre-trial cases in the country was worrisome and need to be curbed.
She noted that the group aimed at developing indicators to track Kuje prison’s compliance with ACJA pre-trial provisions in the processing of pre-trial detainees.
Lagi said that Kuje Prison in Abuja which the group used as a reference point shows that about 75 percent of the inmates were pre-trial cases which points to why the prison facilities are over crowded.
She mentioned that section 293-300 of the ACJA introduces a number of limitations on the authority of the Government of Nigeria to detain suspects, hence the limitations impose upon the government to process case expeditiously and show why non-custodial measures, such as bail, should not apply.
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On her part, NULAI’s Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Charissa Kabir, noted that most of the people in the prison awaiting trial were below the ages of 30 and most inmates still in prison were people who are not able to get bail.
She said the capacity of Kuje prison facility was for about 500 people but it was discovered that they had over 800 people in the facility, hence the need to speedily process pending cases to decongest the prison.
She said their visit to Kuje prison exposed them to some vital information of the challenges faced and what needs to be done to solve the existing issues.
Kabir noted that the prison management actually have records to aid anyone who wants to represent anybody in court.
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