No fewer than 52,436 inmates of the correctional centres nationwide are awaiting trial, the federal government disclosed on Thursday.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Dr. Shuaib Belgore, who made this known during the two-day High Conference on Decongestion and Corrections Management in Abuja, the nation’s capital, also noted that while 23,071 are convicted persons, 3,322 are condemned inmates on death row
Belogore maintained that there has been a steady rise in the population of the custodial centres with at least 80% of the inmates awaiting trial.
According to him, there are 244 custodial centres nationwide, with a 75,507-inmate population, thereby leading to 82 of them being overcrowded.
Giving further details, he also put the figure of the total number of male inmates as 73,821, adding that 1,686 are female inmates.
