Man,83, Secures Freedom In Enugu

An octogenarian was among those who regained their freedom  when the Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice Innocent Umezulike, concluded his visit to Enugu Prisons.

The judge began the prison visit on Monday by mobilising seven other judges to the prison to decongest it.

The judges handled individual cases, especially juvenile and asylum matters.

John Ugwu, 83, who was remanded in prison custody in August 2010, was brought to the court in a stretcher as he had become blind and could not walk.

The Attorney-General of the State and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Anthony Anih, said the state could not continue to prosecute the criminal proceedings against Ugwu, who was standing trial for murder.

Justice Catherine Nwobodo discharged the accused on account of his condition.

Similarly, many other accused persons regained their freedom and some got bail.

Commenting on the exercise, Umezulike said the court had never done so much since he assumed office.

“Never have we been able to do so much since I took the centre chair of the Enugu High Court,’’ he said, and commended the stakeholders who made the visit possible.

He promised to make the exercise routine or at least two times in a year and to extend it to other prisons in the state.

In his remarks, Anih said the ministry would be disposed to make some concessions in deserving cases to deliver justice to the people.

He also thanked all those who made the occasion a success.

The Controller of Prisons in the state, Mr Chris Ntewo, pledged to send quarterly reports about the prisons’ situations to the appropriate authorities for appropriate action.  He said that warders were trained to handle convicts but that those awaiting trial had far outnumbered convicted inmates in all the prisons in the state.

The Enugu Prison, with a capacity for 638 inmates, had 1,529 persons, among whom 1,179 were awaiting trial.