Amnesty: Delta judiciary debunks alleged bias against Sapele Custodial Centre

The Delta state judiciary has refuted an allegation of bias against the Sapele Custodial Centre of the Nigerian Correctional Service when the Chief Judge of Delta dtate, Justice Marshal Umukoro, has embarked on a visit to the five custodial centres to release inmates on the directive of the federal government.

The rebuttal was sequel to an online report captioned: ” Why Inmates at Sapele Prison protested, set offices on Fire,” dated April 27 where it was reported that inmates of the Sapele Correctional Centre alleged that they intentionally set the centre ablaze to protest against the chief judge’s bias.

A statement from the office of the Head of Protocol and Public Relations Officer, Timothy Agbaragu in Asaba, a copy made available to journalists on Thursday, asserted that while the chief judge was not interested in joining issues with anyone on allegation of bias, he considered it a public and moral duty to keep members of the public correctly informed about the matter and protect them from reckless misinformation.

The statement disclosed that the visit of the chief judge to the Correctional Centre, Sapele, on April 23, was pursuant to presidential directive to decongest correctional centres.

The letter, according to the statement, requested chief judges of various states, to urgently embark on a visit to all correctional/custodial centres within their respective jurisdictions to identify and release inmates deserving of amnesty.

It reads: “The presidential directives were accompanied by a comprehensive list of all the inmates in the five correctional centres in Delta state (including Sapele Correctional Centre) considered eligible for amnesty and possible release by the state chief judge during his decongestion visit to the respective centres.

“With respect to the Correctional Centre in Sapele, although the names of 11 inmates had originally been sent to the Presidency by the authorities of the Correctional Service in Sapele for the grant of amnesty, only three of these inmates were eventually approved by the Presidency to be granted amnesty.

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“Hence, only these inmates were released by the chief judge in Sapele during his visit to the Correctional Centre, Sapele.”

The statement noted that the chief judge confined himself strictly to the comprehensive list of inmates eligible for amnesty as approved and sent from Abuja.

It stressed that the state chief judge has no jurisdiction to release convicted inmates on his own volition, unless such inmates are granted amnesty/pardon by the Presidency or executive arm of the government, as the case may be.

It described the purported protest of inmates as totally misguided and most unfortunate, pointing out that convicted nmates has no right to freedom, if not reversed by an appellate court unless the convict receives a pardon from the President or governor, as the case may be, in exercise of his prerogative of mercy.