In a bid to decongest custodial facilities in the state, Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Iyabo Yerima, has pardoned 32 inmates remanded at the Nigeria Correctional Service, Agodi Custodial Centre, Ibadan.
Some of the inmates were granted pardon on health and humanitarian grounds.
Represented by Justice Akinniyi Akintola, Justice Yerima noted that the gesture was a statutory responsibility of her office to visit correctional centers and release inmates who had been held longer than necessary.
She explained that the visit had been delayed due to an outbreak of mpox in the custodial facilities.
Justice Yerima urged the pardoned inmates to turn a new leaf and avoid returning to crime.
The Controller of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Oyo State Command, Mr. Babafemi Jaiyeoba, represented by the Assistant Controller of Corrections, Mrs. Sarah Bolorunduro, appealed to the Chief Judge to make the visit a regular practice to improve conditions for inmates.
The officer in charge of the Agodi Custodial Centre, Mr. Olayinka Olayiwola, called on the Chief Judge to separate criminal matters from civil cases at the Magistrate Court, citing their merger as a key factor contributing to congestion.
Chairman of the Prison Fellowship of Nigeria, Oyo State Chapter, Mr. Festus Sule, assured that the group would continue supporting the pardoned inmates until they were fully rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.
