It was a jubilation galore as twenty Awaiting Trial inmates of the Ikoyi Prison were granted freedom as part of activities marking the beginning of the twenty-sixteen-twenty-seventeen legal year.

Those granted freedom were chosen from the one hundred and four names of inmates submitted by the Prison Decongestion Committee headed by, Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye for consideration.

Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Olufunmilayo Atilade, who granted the inmates freedom during her visit to the prison, congratulated the released inmates admonishing them to go and sin no more.

Atilade said they were released on exercise of powers granted her under the Criminal Justice (Release from Custody), Special Provisions Act, Cap C40 2004 Laws of the Federation.

She reiterated that prison visit was one of the key pillars of her administration to regularly visit the custodial institutions of Lagos State with a view to granting amnesty to eligible and qualified inmates.

The Chief Judge however lamented the high number of inmates in awaiting trials in prisons, saying a number of factors had contributed to the large number of awaiting trial inmates.

According to her, these include ongoing investigations by police, the time lapse between the issuance of the DPP’s advice and filing of the case in court, operational delays such as transportation from prison to court and lack of legal representation.

Since her Inauguration as Chief Judge in twenty-fourteen, Justice Atilade had granted freedom to a total of two hundred and sixty-five prisoners.

Thirty-seven inmates were released between September twenty-fourteen and September twenty-fifteen from Ikoyi and Kirikiri prisons while two hundred and twenty-eight were also released between September twenty-fifteen and September twenty-sixteen.

Deputy Comptroller of Prison in charge of Ikoyi Prison, Ezekwu Julius who lamented the over-population at the prison, said there was need for further reduction in the number of inmates.

Julius said Ikoyi prison was built in nineteen fifty-five with a capacity of eight hundred inmates, however, today it stands at two thousand three hundred and fifty-eight inmates with awaiting trial persons numbering two thousand and thirty-seven out of which three hundred and twenty-one inmates were convicts.

He urged the Chief Judge to help stem the tide of awaiting trial person’s phenomenon and ultimately decongest our prisons’ through speedy conclusion of cases in courts.

The Deputy Comptroller of Prison said those granted freedom had been trained in various skills such as soap making, catering, among others, aimed at making them useful to the society following discharge from custody.