By Emmanuel Awari-Jalingo
The Chief Judge of Taraba state, Justice Phillibus Andetur has freed 19 Inmates awaiting trial at the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Jalingo the Taraba State.
Performing the exercise, Justice Philibus Andetur said his visit was in line with Governor Darius Ishaku’s directive of decongesting the Prisons across the State aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.
Ten (10) Inmates were also granted bail on the directive of the Chief Judge.
Earlier, the State Controller of Corrections Mr. Stephen Bulus Gankov expressed happiness over the CJ’s visit to the Centre.
He called on the CJ to kindly grant bail to Inmates awaiting trial, explaining that his visit was part of measures to decongest the Prison.
Our Correspondent reports that the Visit was the CJ’s prime visit to the Centre, having assumed office as the Chief Judge of the State on 14th day of June, 2019.
“It is a yearly routine that the Chief Judge visits the Prisons at least once but the purpose of this particular visit is to decongest the Prisons because of corona virus pandemic”, a source said.
The number of persons awaiting trial with charges of non capital offences were Ninety (90) while number of Convicts who have two years or less of their sentence to serve were three (3).
The CJ has proposed decongesting some Prisons with a view to containing the spread of COVID 19 across the state.
Nasarawa Reporters 