The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba, Tuesday, freed 18 awaiting-trial inmates of the Kirikiri Medium Security Custodial Centre to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
According to Alogba, who pardoned the inmates at an open court session, the gesture was in line with the efforts of the Federal Government to decongest the prisons as part of strategies to tackle the COVlD-19 pandemic.
The Chief Judge, however, advised the pardoned inmates against returning to crime.
He stressed that with the creation of a database comprising details and fingerprints of criminals stored by the state government, harsher punishment awaits anyone caught committing a crime after pardon.
The Judge noted that the selection of the pardoned inmates followed due diligence because from experience, inmates who were undeserving of pardon were inadvertently released.
