A thousand and fifty six of the one thousand three hundred inmates of the Federal Prisons, Owerri, Nigeria are believed to be on awaiting trial.
The member representing Aboh Mbaise local government in Imo State House of Assembly and Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary, Chief Alexander Emeziem, made the startling revelation during the inauguration of a 16-member ad-hoc committee set up by the House to articulate ways of immediately decongesting the Owerri Prisons.
According to the lawmaker, some of the detainees have not been charged or taken to court since the past six years, adding that this was not a good testimonial for the justice delivery system in the country.
He was not particularly happy that the Owerri Federal Prisons, which was built over 70 years ago to conveniently, accommodate only 548 inmates now houses 1,300.
While disclosing that some of the inmates had spent more time behind bars than what they would have ordinarily spent if properly convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction, he stressed that it was not proper to keep young offenders and hardened criminals in the same cells.
Speaking after inauguration ceremonies, the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Chief Chuma Nnaji, appealed to the state government to appoint more high court judges to serve in the state judiciary.
He attributed the huge volume of work facing the few serving high court judges as being largely responsible for the staggering number of inmates awaiting trial in the prisons.