Covid-19: Prison decongestion requires practical approach due to increase in crime ― Oyo CJ

The Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Munta L. Abimbola, on Tuesday, reiterated the need to adopt a holistic and practical approach to guide the exercise of the statutory duties of the monitoring committee on Administration of Criminal Justice (ACJL) on decongestion of correctional centres in the state due to increase in crime rate and rising insecurity in the society.

Justice Abimbola made this assertion during the meeting of the ACJL monitoring committee at the High Court of Justice at Ring Road, Ibadan emphasising that while decongestion is needed as a step towards curbing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the security of the people should also be put into consideration.

The committee meeting was to deliberate on prison congestion to combat the second wave of Covid-19, following advice from the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to the state governor on the need for speedy decongestion of custodial centres in view of the pandemic.

The letter which copied the State Attorney General and the Chief Judge drew the attention of the governor to the need to for urgent measures to be taken towards a second nationwide decongestion of correctional centres across the country in view of the pandemic.

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“As part of efforts to control the pandemic, the United Nations had called on countries of the world to consciously reduce the population of prison inmates since physical distancing and self-isolation in such conditions are practically impossible

“Executive governors are to please request the state Chief Judges to embark on a visit to all custodial centres within their respective states to identify and release deserving inmates where that has not been done already,” the letter said

Speaking on the exercise, the chief judge urged members to meticulously go through the list provided by the custodial service so that the exercise will not release serial offenders or people with a penchant for crime into the society to terrorise people, adding that there are guidelines provided by the law.

According to him, the exercise is not whimsical or capricious, therefore the security situation in Oyo State in relation to justice delivery and the custodial situation warrants that the committee meets to decide on the mode that the prison congestion will take. 

He reiterated that an increase in crime has led to increased arrests and is causing congestion in police cells, especially where correctional services have challenges taking in new inmates even on a temporary basis.

Justice Abimbola emphasised that some situations automatically necessitate the release of some inmates, citing the example that if circumstances of arrest are unlawful and illegal, the subsequent detention and trial is also unlawful.

The committee put up non-custodial sentencing as a mode of reducing while the subcommittee in its report on its activities for the year stated that there was an increase in the number of non-custodial convicts this year due to inability of correctional centres during the first wave of the pandemic and the EndSARs protest, adding that they had 113 convicts this year.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE