Lagos issues 313 legal advice in three months

The Lagos State Government has said no fewer than 313 legal
advice were issued within three months through the Directorate of
Public Prosecutions.

A statement on Thursday by the state Attorney General and
Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adeniji Kazeem, stated that a total of
320 duplicate case files were received from the police within the
period.

He said five federal prisons in Lagos State were overstretched
with about 5,000 inmates.

According to Kazeem, the revelations are in a recent quarterly
report of the Lagos Criminal Information System which serves as the
databank of all prison inmates in the state.

He said a breakdown of the report, which covered activities from
June to September 2018, showed that 56 miscellaneous cases
(stealing-related offences), 95 sexual-related offences, 79 robbery
cases, 48 fatal motor accident and 35 homicide cases were received
in the period under review.

“The report further revealed that out of the 4,087 total inmates
capacity of the five federal prisons in the state, actual prison
open out was 9,303, while the total inmates enrolled on the LCIS
system, with complete records, including biometrics and photographs
as of September 30,2018, was 12,439.

“The report indicates that the federal prison facilities in
Lagos State are overstretched, while the state government, through
the Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy and the Judiciary, is
working with the Lagos State Ministry of Justice to get a list of
inmates with minor offences for possible consideration,” he
added.

Also in the report, there are 48 inmates with minor offences who
are on the awaiting-trial list for three years and above, as well
as 72 juvenile inmates out of which 15 were in the age bracket of 0
to 14 years, and 57 in the age bracket of 15 to 17 years.

For inmates charged with domestic and sexual offences, the
report showed that the top three offences in the category were
defilement (57 per cent), sodomy (22 per cent), and rape (18 per
cent).