Plans to decongest correctional centres across the country has kicked off in Rivers State, after the Chief Judge, Justice Simeon Amadi, granted pardon to 181 inmates in various correctional centres in the state.
Amadi, while speaking at the close of the two-day decongestion exercise at the Port Harcourt Maximum Correctional Centre, said the exercise was a prelude to the 2022/2023 state legal year ceremony.
He said, “On November 22, I will embark on another goal delivery exercise as activities put together to herald the 2022/2023 legal year in the state.”
While addressing the freed inmates, he said the society contributed more to the congestion of the correctional centres, adding that, “Simple civil disputes, quarrel over boundaries; people rush to the police stations and insist that the police must bring very heavy charges.”
Amadi maintained that, “We also want to put members of the public on notice that the magistracy is no longer a place where you bring any charge from the police stations to get the charge rubber-stamped for the purpose of bringing people here.”
He noted that, “We may not have attended to everybody’s case. It is not possible. We can’t do that within the limited time that we have. But for those of you whose cases are not going on and who are trapped here, from time to time, we will help. Reforms are ongoing within our criminal justice administration system.”
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