169 Inmates Awaiting Trial at Jalingo Custodian Center – CJ
By Chuwang Dungs, Jalingo
Chief Judge of Taraba State, Joel Agya on Thursday said a total number of 169 inmates at Jalingo Medium Custodian Centre are awaiting trial.
Agya, says the high number of Awaiting Trial Inmates (ATIs) is putting undue pressure on custodial centers, hence the need for speedy trials.
Mr Agya, made the disclosure after a visit to the center to interact with the inmates.
He observed that many of the cases which were minor in nature were left pending on awaiting trials for the period between two to five years.
The Chief Judge said that some of the inmates had no business being in the custodian centre.
He also noted that those cases were from magistrate courts and other lower courts.
Agya said that he was at the center to have granted bail and discharge some of those inmates on such categories but the absence of some magistrates handling such cases as well as discrepancies between police prosecutors and the ministry of justice caused him to extend the exercise further.
He also gave the inmate assurance that he would follow up those cases to ensure that they were granted bail as quickly as possible as soon as those concerned magistrates return from their official engagements.
He thanked the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) for the robust partnership with the state judiciary in ensuring that justice was served to the common man.
According to him, my visit here today is in the fulfilment of my earlier promise to the Controller of the NCS who visited me and demanded that I should assist in the decongestion of the facility.
“I have come today to investigate cases awaiting trials and my next visit will touch on some of the convicted cases.
“I will not mend into cases that attract capital punishment such as kidnapping, armed robbery and culpable homicide,” he said.
Earlier, Controller Murtala Haruna, Controller NCS Taraba command thanked the chief judge for the visit.
Haruna said that the visit would go a long way in giving liberty to some inmates who were unnecessarily incarcerated.
According to him, your visit is a testament of the fact that the Judiciary is the last hope of a common man.
The CJ was accompanied by the Director of Prosecution, Chief Registrar, Legal Aid Council, magistrates and judges, prosecutors and representatives of the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA).
