Zarephath Aid, has called for the audit of all correctional facilities across the country with the aim of identifying the inmates and ascertaining each inmate’s case.
The Founder of the international criminal justice group, Ben Abraham made the call during the commemoration of the United Nations International Human Rights Day, at a press conference in Ikeja, Lagos on Tuesday.
He lamented the spate of increasing pre-trial inmates in the nation’s custodial centres and bemoaned the plights of persons who have stayed upwards 10 years awaiting trial because their case files are stuck somewhere in the chain of criminal justice system.
Abraham said such violations of rights is likened to a decline in the life of person.
According to him, “There is need to match words with urgent action in tackling this monster in our criminal justice system.
Continuing, “We therefore recommend the following; S. 469 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 established the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee (ACJMC) while S.375 of the ACJL Lagos State provides for the Lagos State Criminal Justice Sector Reform Committee Other States of the Federation also have their various committees. These committees need to get down to work and identify the problems facing the criminal justice system as It especially affects pre-trial inmates.
“To achieve this, we strongly recommend an audit of all correctional facilities with the aim of identifying the inmates and ascertaining each inmate’s case. This committee may need to work with Non-Governmental Organizations to achieve their purpose.
“The creation of special panels by the AG for the purpose of expediting action in the issuance of legal advice by his office. For this, retired Magistrates or High court judges may be employed on ad-hoc basis. Such panels can be constituted by the Chief Judge to clear the backlog of cases awaiting tral at the Magistrate and High courts.
“The Federal and State Governments have not fully engaged NonGovernmental Organizations in this area and this is highly recommended. During Chief Obasanjo’s regime between 1999 and 2007, the office of the AGF engaged many groups and firms to decongest the prisons. This can be replicated with NGOs working pro bono.”
The group said it has had to intervene in the release of the longest awaiting trial inmates of the Medium correctional centre Kirikiri; Moses Abiodun and Kazeem Adeshina. Each of them stayed a total of 16 years from the date of arrest in 1998 until their release recently,” the legal practitioner said.
He is worried about other prison inmates languishing in correctional facilities without trial.
