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The Lagos State Controller of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), Mr Adewale Adebisi, has revealed that 352 inmates are on death row at the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre.
Adebisi made the disclosure on Wednesday while delivering his address of welcome at the 2022 Correctional Centres Decongestion Exercise.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Decongestion Exercise aims at freeing inmates in compliance with Section 1(1) of the Criminal Justice Release from Custody Special Provision Act.
The exercise is being overseen by the Chief Judge of Lagos, Justice Kazeem Alogba.
“The inmates on death row at the Maximum Correctional Centre are 352, and there are categories of inmates.
“We also have a total of 150 inmates serving life jail terms,” he said.
According to him, there are five custodial centres in Lagos; Ikoyi, Badagry, Kirikiri Female, Kirikiri Medium and Kirikiri Maximum.
He said that Ikoyi Custodial Centre was built with 800 inmates capacity, but noted that as at today, “it hosts 2,465 inmates.
“And Kirikiri Maximum Custodial Centre, built with the capacity of 1,006 inmates now houses about 2000 inmates,” he said.
Adebisi noted that the Kirikiri Medium Custodial Centre which was built with the capacity of 5,930 inmates, presently houses 3,117 inmates.
“With this you can agree with me that most of the custodial centres in Lagos State are congested. It has been a great challenge for us in the NCS to handle this situation,” he said.
Adebisi, however, lauded the efforts of the Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, in upgrading infrastructure of the custodial Centres in Lagos.
“For example, we have a block of cells that are being built. We have one in Ikoyi Custodial Centre that is ongoing and another one at Kirikirki Medium.
“The projects are all aimed at decongesting the custodial centres,” the Lagos State Controller of Prisons said.
He said that the decongestion exercise embarked upon by the Chief Judge of Lagos would greatly aid the prison authorities in the management of inmates.
NAN reports that Justice Alogba, during the visit, freed 33 inmates.
And of the 33 inmates, eight were released from the Ikoyi Custodial Centre, 11 from the Maximum while the remaining 14 inmates were freed from the Medium Custodial Centres.