Some Abuja-based legal practitioners have urged the judiciary and the police to take urgent steps to reduce congestion in correctional centres across the country through comprehensive criminal justice reforms.
They said correctional centres and some police cells remain overstretched due to the large number of awaiting-trial inmates.
Mrs Chioma Ugwu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that speedy trials and strict compliance with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, would help decongest the facilities.
Ugwu said courts must set timelines for arraignment and avoid unnecessary adjournments, as many inmates spend years awaiting trial for minor offences.
She urged courts to adopt more non-custodial sentences, such as community service, probation and fines, instead of custodial sentences where appropriate.
Also speaking with NAN, Mrs Ogechi Okechi stressed the need for regular visits by relevant authorities to correctional centres and police cells to review cases and grant bail where appropriate.
Okechi said monthly decongestion visits would help strike out abandoned cases and release persons with no case to answer.
She added that bail conditions should be reasonable, noting that many people remain in custody because they cannot meet strict bail conditions.
Also speaking to NAN, Mr Franklin Moses said the police must ensure that suspects were not detained beyond the constitutionally permitted period without being charged to court.
Moses said bail at police stations was free and should be granted for minor offences within 24 to 48 hours of arrest.
He added that alternative dispute resolution should be encouraged for civil matters, such as debt and landlord-tenant disputes, to prevent unnecessary criminal charges.
Another lawyer, Mr Umar Abubakar, said better collaboration among the courts, prosecutors and police investigators would ensure witnesses were ready to testify and reduce unnecessary adjournments.
Abubakar also advocated virtual hearings to reduce delays in transporting inmates from correctional centres to the court.
He said cases in which both parties consistently failed to appear should be struck out instead of remaining on court dockets for years.
For Mr Ogar Udama, the option of plea bargaining should be explored more in handling minor cases such as theft, adding that it would significantly reduce congestion in correctional centres.
For his part, Mr Mommoh Lawal maintained that prison congestion could be reduced by ensuring speedy trials, granting bail to eligible suspects and using non-custodial sentences like community service for minor offences.
” These measures will reduce the number of awaiting-trial inmates while ensuring justice is served,” he said.
Another Lawyer, Mrs Catherine Okafor said that prison congestion could be addressed through a combination of legal, judicial, and correctional reforms.
” One of such is that the courts should ensure the speedy trial of criminal cases to reduce the number of people awaiting trial,” she said.
Mr Emmanuel Nnamani also told NAN that one of the many solutions to prison congestion was for government to improve legal aid service so that indigent defendants could have proper representation.
Nnamani also called for regular review of cases involving long term detainees and greater investment in correctional facilities.
