Over 5,000 inmates in Lagos prisons have no lawyer
Over 5,000 inmates who are awaiting trial in various prisons in Lagos have no legal representatives, the Lagos Criminal Information System has revealed.
The LCIS inaugural report also revealed that, as of May 15, 2018, five prisons in the state, with a capacity to contain 4,087 inmates, are actually holding 8,434 inmates.
Fifty-five per cent of these inmates are awaiting trial.
Of those remanded in the prisons, at least 71 juveniles were currently being held in adult prisons.
The LCIS report identified conspiracy and robbery as the most rampant criminal case in Lagos State, while breach of peace, armed robbery, rape, defilement, murder, assault and cultism follow in that order.
It further identified Ikorodu as the part of the city with the highest rate of crime.
According to the LCIS, the prisons in Lagos are mostly populated by persons between the ages of 30 and 49, who account for 50.2 per cent of the total number of inmates.
With a total of 2,766, people between the ages of 18 and 29 come next, representing 42.5 per cent, while there were only six persons between the ages of 80 and 89 in the prisons.
Out of the total number of inmates in the prisons, 247 are standing trial for crimes allegedly committed in Ikorodu, while 197 inmates are answering charges based on crimes committed in Ojo.
Following closely were Agege, with 169 inmates; Ikeja,163 inmates; Lekki, 135 inmates; Apapa, 134 inmates; Mushin, 113 inmates; Badagry, 97 inmates and Oshodi, with 96 inmates.
The agency’s report has been described as astonishing by the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adeniji Kazeem.
Kazeem said on Tuesday that there needs to be a rapid response to the prison conditions in the state. He said the LCIS was created due to lack of data on arrested suspects.
“Most outrageous is the disparity in the maximum capacity of prisons in Lagos vis-a-vis the actual number of inmates presently in those prisons,” he said.
