Prison Congestion: Stakeholders In Enugu Advocate Special Courts To Address Challenge
Stakeholders in Enugu State’s criminal justice administration have called for the establishment of specialised courts to tackle the issue of prison congestion in the state.
The stakeholders stated this on Monday at a two-day capacity-building workshop on the Enugu State Administration of Criminal Justice law, and its implementation in the state.
They explained that creating specialised courts such as the Criminal Law Division, Civil Law Division, and Family Law Division would ensure a speedy trial of pilling cases and enhance the dispensation of justice in the state.
The workshop organised by Law Hub Development and Advocacy Centre with support from the Macarthur Foundation, saw participants drawn from the Judiciary, Police, Ministry of Justice, Nigerian Correctional Service, Nigeria Bar Association, Civil Society Organisations, and the media.
Speaking at the workshop, the Secretary, Enugu State Justice Reform Team and Editor-in-Chief, Judgements of the Supreme Court of Nigeria Law Report, Chief Tom Anyafulude, decried the congestion of prisons in the state, which he said is as a result of awaiting trial cases that keeps increasing on daily basis.
Anyafulude disclosed that currently there are 2,100 awaiting trial inmates at the Enugu State Maximum Correctional Centre, adding that some of the cases have been there for more than five years without trial because of the limited number of judges in the state.
He said, “We need at least more 20 judges in the Enugu State judiciary to be able to start addressing pilling cases in courts. We need to create Law Divisions such as the Criminal Law Division, Civil Law Division, and Family Law Division. With these divisions, judges will be rotated yearly in these divisions. It will also ensure speed trial because cases coming to those divisions would be specialised.”
The legal luminary also advocated that more time should be given to judicial work, faulting the idea of bringing dead lawyers or judges now and then for court sessions. Adding that such increasing activities hampers the judicial work.
Mrs Nnenna Nwomeh, while speaking on the successes and challenges of the implementation of the ‘Enugu State Administration of Criminal Justice Law: The role of the state Ministry of Justice,’ blamed shoddy investigation of criminal cases by police to the prolonged criminal trials in the state.
She advised that policemen should stop the random arrest and trump-up charges that have no supporting evidence so that people who did not commit offence should not find their way to prison custody.
“Poor Investigation of Cases by Law enforcement agencies: The Prosecution is often, not armed enough to do its work due to poor investigation. Investigations conducted thoroughly are key to a successful prosecution.
“Some issues encountered include; statements of the victims of crime and witnesses not recorded, exhibits not recovered or not handled well, timely investigation of alibi, failing to make statements as to their roles in the investigation of the case, etc. This invariably causes delay and this is one amongst many other reasons why criminal cases take years before conclusion.”
Earlier in his remark, the Executive Director of Law Hub Development and Advocacy Centre, Mr Osita Chukwuma, said the workshop was part of its project which focuses on “Popularizing and Disseminating the Administration of Criminal Justice Laws of States and continuously updating the Laws to Reflect Amendments.”
Chukwuman regretted that the government has ignored or relegated the development of the criminal justice system to the background, a development he said has created the current state of insecurity, corruption, and congestion of prisons among others.
Represented by the Project Team, Joshua Dada, Executive Director, explained that “this project intends to achieve this objective by assessing the needs of individual states and providing technical and logistical support to the criminal justice sectors of the various states we have earmarked to support across the country.
“This will involve convening of various training and technical workshops within the two-year life span of this project, sharing of knowledge and experiences, convening technical and capacity building workshops and conducting various assessments and performance appraisals across the states amongst others.”
He, however, thanked the MacArthur Foundation for their support to work and fill the huge vacuums left by various governments.
While calling on all criminal justice stakeholders in the state to get ready and depart from the old order and accept a new order, noted that the advent of the ACJL in the State has done away with the old order under the CPL and all other archaic and barbaric practices associated with it.
