Awaiing Trial Persons Analysis

have more law courts and judges to try criminal and civil cases speedily, the issue of Awaiting Trial Persons will be significantly addressed if not eliminated completely.
In his own contribution in this light, Ese Malemi, a Law lecturer with Faculty of Law, Lagos State University (LASU) not only wants government to expand prison facilities but also suggested that measure should be taken by the country’s justice system to fast track the trial of cases in law courts. In his words: “What I think government should do is to expand the prison facilities. I do not believe in our legal system that it is perfect because has a lot of errors. Take for instance, the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others. I do not believe we run an effective judicial
Until the new law came into being, he noted that criminal procedure was governed by either the Criminal Procedure Act or Criminal Procedure Code, noting that for years, these legislations were applied by each state without any significant improvement. Instead, he observed that the criminal justice system is polarised along regional lines and lost its capacity to quickly meet the needs of the society in relation to rising wave of crime, speedily bringing criminals to book and protect the victims of crime. “The ACJA 2015 responds to Nigeria’s dire need of a harmonised legislation that will transform the criminal justice system to reflect the true objects of the constitution and the demands of a democratic society in eliminating unacceptable delays in the disposal of criminal cases thereby improving the efficiency of the criminal justice administration in the country, including prison congestion”, he
He said this would allow for space in federal prisons. He said the arrangement, whereby all convicts and awaiting trial persons from the different levels of the court are kept in federal prisons have been responsible for the overcrowding of the prisons. Avoseh lamented that the prisons have remained congested because bail conditions are not easily fulfilled by the awaiting trial persons and for other reasons considered unimportant, when trial against an accused person is yet to commence. This resulted in overstretching of prison facilities with the attendant illness, poor feeding, destruction and death, ‘’ asking he the courts should be encouraged to enforce only laws that would not lead to congestion of prisons. Avoseh explained that it was to stem the tide of prison congestion that the Criminal Justice (Release from Custody)(Special Provisions) Act Cap 40 Laws of the Federation 1999was passed. He noted the state Chief Judges of and governors have been releasing awaiting trial inmates from prisons yearly in exercise of their powers under the law. He also said rather than prison sentences, magistrates should be encouraged to commit