22 Inmates Released For Good Behaviour In Niger

22 Inmates Released For Good Behaviour In Niger

Twenty-two inmates awaiting trial at the old Minna Medium Security Custodial Centre have been released on the order of the Chief Judge of Niger State, Justice Aisha Bawa Bwari.

Among the convicts released include five inmates who were cooking for other inmates and a tailor.

Giving the order during her two-day valedictory visit to the custodian centre, as part of activities lined up for her retirement from the public service, she said, “they were discharged because they have already served part of their prison jail term for their supposed punishment on alleged offences and also for being of good behaviour while awaiting trial.”

The Chief Judge explained that two of the inmates were summarily tried and discharged based on the fact that there was no proof to warrant their continued stay in prison, saying that the First Incident Report from the police said they could not find their original case file.

Bwari hinged her decision to set them free on the advice of the Director, Department of Public Prosecution DPP, in the state Ministry for Justice.

However, she expressed worries over the manner the police prosecutors delayed most of the cases, leading to the denial of inmates getting justice and thereby remaining in the prison without being tried for so long than expected.

Advising those set free, Justice Bwari said,”be of good behaviour and desist from any act that will bring you back to the prison where you were languishing.”

The Controller Operations, Old Minna Medium Security Custodial Centre, Sulayman Abdulkadir, in his speech commended the efforts of the Chief Judge in assisting to decongest the facility and for the visit to the prison.

“What you did is vital in the process of decongesting the prisons which have over 500 inmates as at the time of the visit,” Abdulkadir stated.

He then urged the freed inmates to be law-abiding wherever they find themselves so as to avoid being rearrested and sent back to the centre.