Prisons decongestion: Panel seeks clemency for inmates
The national panel on prisons reform and decongestion has called for clemency for inmates that acquire additional academic qualifications while serving their terms.
Chairman of the panel, Justice Ishaq Bello, who made the call during a retreat in Ondo State, also sought employment in any part of the country for these inmates.
He said this would ensure that they do not go back to crime due to joblessness.
Bello said the convicts might encounter problems of processing entry forms into various establishment and organisations that might require some information that would negate them from getting the job, once it is known that they are ex-convict.
He warned that where such convicts are blocked from getting employment, they might revert back to crime with more sophisticated mind full of bitterness.
A statement by the Deputy Director of Information in the Ministry of Justice, Ogundoro Modupe quoted Justice Bello to have said, “To this effect, the committee resolved to make a special recommendation and proposal for onward submission to the President and then to the State Governors to grant clemency to such persons.
“It is expected that the Committee will take it up to the President that any inmate that acquire additional qualification in the prison should get clemency.”
During the retreat, the panel and the Ogun State High Court Chief Judge released 28 inmates in Ibara Prison in Abeokuta, while in Ondo State, the Committee jointly with the state government released 34 inmates in addition with 86 inmates that were earlier released by the state, totalling 120 inmates released from Medium Prison, Olokuta, Akure, Ondo State.