Lagos Advocates Community Services For Minor Offenders

Adeniji Kazeem, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice

The Lagos State Prison Watch has offered free legal
services to inmates in the Badagry prisons, in order to
facilitate their release and aid the decongestion of the
prison facility which is presently overstretched and
overcrowded.
The Prison Watch team which comprises of state counsels
from Citizens’ Right, Office of The Public Defender, OPD,
and Community Service, also advocated for minor



offenders, and first time offenders the option of community
services instead of being jailed for minor offences.
This advocacy for community service, according to Mrs
Clara Ibirogba, Director of Citizens Rights, Ministry of
Justice and the Head of the Lagos State Prison Watch
team, would help effectively in decongesting the prisons.
Ibirogba, who expressed displeasure at the overcrowded
situation of prisons across the State added that the facilities
for the prisoners in prisons were also currently inadequate
because of over population.
She said “State counsels from the OPD shall be offering
freee legal services to indegent inmates who can not afford
the services of a lawyer, to facilitate their release through
the courts, as this will aid in decongesting the prisons”
A representative of the Deputy Controller of Prison, Mr.
Emmanuel Olaitan commended the state government for its
constant support to the welfare of prisoners, and appealed
to the state government to continue to do more.