Lagos State government has advocated for the adoption of alternative sentencing to decongest prisons in the state.
The Director, Directorate for Citizens’ Rights, Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Mrs Tola Akinsanya, made the call after the directorate’s Prison Watch team ‘s quarterly visit to the Ikoyi Prison on Friday.
She said: “Sentences for criminal conviction can take many forms, and a conviction doesn’t always mean a trip to jail or prison. Alternative sentences can include different combinations of the following: a suspended sentence, probation, fines, restitution, community service and deferred adjudication/pretrial diversion.
Lamenting the challenge of over population of inmates at the Ikoyi Prison which has a capacity for 800 inmates, she said: “It is unfortunate that there are about 2419 inmates awaiting trial out of the total 2933 inmates. From our investigation, the reason for this include lack of legal representation, inability to pay fines imposed and inability to perfect bail conditions in court . “Hence, the magistrates are constrained to commit them to prison pending the time they have legal representation or when they can meet the bail conditions or pay the fines imposed on them.