Ogun CJ frees 31 prison inmates

The Ogun State Chief Judge, Justice Mosunmola Dipeolu, on Friday granted amnesty to 31 inmates in five Correctional Centres across the state as part of ongoing efforts to decongest the facilities.

The chief judge granted the inmates amnesty during the second quarter jail delivery exercise held at the State High Court Complex in Kobape, Abeokuta.

Eight inmates were released from the New Abeokuta Correctional Centre in Oba, six in Ibara and eight in Ilaro.

Three inmates were also released from Sagamu Correctional Centre and six from the Ijebu-Ode Centre.

Dipeolu said the inmates had been in custody for many years over various offences and were released because their case files had not been found while no prosecution witness showed in court to testify against them.

READ ALSO: Prisoner who escaped from Edo arrested in Ogun

She said the state’s judiciary set up an Administration Criminal Justice Committee to look through the list sent from the correctional centre, and Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) to determine the inmates worthy of release.

The CJ said: “This committee has done a lot of investigation before the inmates can be recommended for release, it has also made the work easy and fast.

“Another innovation has been made; while releasing the inmates in the past, we just release them and they go.

“But now, we have this new innovation of having their records, by taking their pictures and other details, so as to keep their records, which will make us know if any of them comes back.”

She urged the inmates to shun criminal activities that would bring them back to the correctional facilities.

“You were all released not because you did not commit the crimes or you were not guilty, but because your case files were not found and there was no prosecution witness,” she stated.

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