Over 96 prison inmates in Benue state incarcerated for civil and criminal charges have been unduly kept in custody at the Maximum Custodial Center, Makurdi and the Gboko Correctional Center.
Reports indicate that while many of the inmates have been in the correctional centers for between 2 months and 3 years, without being handed the sentences for their offences, and most of them have been in the facilities longer than the number of years they would have served, if they were convicted and sentenced to their jail terms.
This information was contained in a report of the Independent Administration of Criminal Justice Law, IACJL State Level Monitoring Committee, headed by Dr Victoria Daaor,
She said during a Validation meeting of the report of the findings at a meeting organized by CLEEN Foundation and sponsored by the Norwegian Embassy, that was held at Elohim Development Foundation, in Makurdi on Monday that some of the inmates have not had any legal representation throughout the duration that they have been incarcerated at the various facilities.
Dr Daaor also, said the duration spent by most of the inmates at the center is more than the jail term the suspects would have served, had they been sentenced by the courts.
According to documents handed over to Peoples Daily, by the Committee, it shows that out of 34 male inmates at the Makurdi facility, only 4 have legal representation in court, while out of the 28 inmates at the Gboko facility, none is being represented.
Similarly, out for the 12 female inmates, who are either not granted bail, while a few who have been granted bail, have not met their bail conditions.
Some of the suspects have been kept at the correctional centers for months, and in some cases years, because they could not meet their bail conditions.
For instance, at the Makurdi Correctional Center, only three persons were granted bail but they have been unable to meet their bail conditions. Another has his bail application pending, while the remaining 30, have not been granted bail, and in some cases, for petty offences.
To make matters worse, the presence of the Legal Aid Council, that has the mandate to ensure that such suspects, who do not have the wherewithal to afford lawyers, send lawyers to represent the suspects, is virtually absent.
Victoria Daaor, explained that “This Committee is a multi stakeholders platform established by CLEEN Foundation, with support from the Royal Norwegian Embassy, and it serves as an independent but complementary body to existing structures in Benue state.
“We are here to push and support their activities as it concerns Administration of Criminal Justice in the state to ensure that things are done rightly. We collaborate with the Ministry of Justice, Nigeria Police Force, Correctional and relevant human rights institutions.
“The objective is to strengthen access for various groups with focus on offenders who do not have legal representation, to promote accountability and institutional reforms”, among other objectives.
“We support systemic reforms to improve the implementation of the ACJL in the state. We identify knowledge, system gaps that exist and propose to CLEEN Foundation on how they can support the filling of these gaps. The media need to know what is going on and help us propagate”, she pointed out.
In her presentation, the Vice Chairperson of the IACJL, Barr Awashima Addingi, said, “What we seek to do is give spirit to the letters of the ACJL. The ACJL law states that trial should start and end in 3 months time but we see people who have stayed for up to 3 years. Many of them their trials have not even started according to our report. That means by the spirit of the ACJL, they have been denied justice.
“Some who are in the facility for petty offences like theft and the person has stayed in the facility for 8 months and if you look at the law, the sentence for this offence is one year. Some of them the sentence for their offence is just 6 months and they have been denied justice and some of the bail have been granted but not effected.
“Some have even exceeded the period of stay if they were tried by law. The committee seeks to put everyone on their toes to do the needful” she stressed.
However, Victor Eboh, of Lawyer’s Alert, praised the leadership of Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL), in the state, observing that they have done a lot to correct such issues.
He noted that the leadership of the ACJL in the state, who have enormous powers had paid numerous visits to police stations and correctional facilities in the state and ensured that those at the facilities who have overstay were immediately released.
