SENIOR ADVOCATE SAT WAR OVER POWER TO FREE PRISONERS

To solidify his argument, Falana went to other jurisdictions where similar powers are conferred on judge. For instance, he explained that the Supreme Court of India on September 16, 2014, directed magistrates and session judges to visit prisons in their districts for two months to identify and release under trial prisoners who had already been held in custody for half of the maximum period prescribed by law for the offences for which they were charged, excluding under trial prisoners whose offences attract death penalty. Falana said a similar development happened in Pakistan, when through the country’s chief justice’s intervention, the prison management announced a remission of 60 days to the entitled jail inmates apart from those convicted of espionage, subversion, terrorism, and murder.

The statement partly read: “Just last month, the Principal Judge of the High Courts of Uganda, Justice Yorokamu Bamwine, directed all high court judges and magistrates to release all prisoners who have overstayed on remand without trial. From the foregoing, our Chief Judges are on terra firma in exercising their powers under the Criminal Justice (Release from custody) (Special Provisions) Act in ordering the release of under trial prisoners during prison visits. Apart from the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of Iloegbunam v Iloegbunam supra which has upheld the validity of the Act, section 8 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 has imposed a duty on chief judges to appoint high court judges and magistrates to visit detention centres once a month with a view to ensuring that the indigent under trial prisoners are not detained without legal justification in line with paragraph 55 of the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners which have been adopted by Nigeria.”

Like every argument among lawyers, it will take a judicial pronouncement to lay the controversy to rest. PRINTED AND DISTRIBUTED BY PRESSREADER