Over 292 Inmates Languish In Kirikiri : Awaits Trial

Not less than 292 inmates are currently languishing in Kirikiri Prison while awaiting trial in Lagos, southwest Nigeria.

 Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye disclosed this on Thursday at the monthly briefing of the Ministry of Justice at the Government Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja.

 According to Ipaye, the Office of Public Defender, OPD, visited the Kirikiri Prison last month and discovered that lots of inmates were still awaiting trial and that many of them had no case file.

 The Attorney General disclosed that at the Medium Kirikiri Prison for female, 171 of the 226 female inmates in the prison were still awaiting trial, with only 54 inmates already convicted.

 “At the Maximum Prison, we discovered that 121 inmates are still awaiting trial for various offences. It is important to note that the great majority of these inmates have no file or report awaiting legal advice in the Ministry of Justice.

 “In those cases, our OPD and Directorate of Citizens Right, DCR, have started filing necessary applications before the courts to ensure that the deserving ones are released or prosecuted without further delay,” he stated.

 The commissioner also disclosed that 1,764 minor convicts had been made to undergo community service such as sweeping the street, clearing drainages, among others, saying that these people could have been sent to jail under the old system.

 “Our aim with the community service is restorative justice through rehabilitation and restoration of offenders.

 In the month of May, 2013, we had 230 completed cases and in June, we had182 completed cases,” he said.

 Ipaye added that between January and June 2013, the Directorate of Public Prosecution, DPP, received about 657 case files from the police, saying that in the same period the directorate issued legal advice in respect of 757 case files.

 “The difference in the number is a pointer to the fact that we have succeeded in clearing the backlog of legal advice that was usually the norm in the directorate,” he explained.

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Mother Who Baptized Children Without Consent Needs to Go to Jail

A mother in Tennessee faces contempt-of-court charges and potential jail time for baptizing her two children without notifying or gaining the consent of her ex-husband, according to the Associated Press. In doing so, she violated a court order stating all religious decisions about the children's upbringing are to be made between the mother and father.

The mother should go to jail as an example for other people. Lauren Jarrell, the mother, is Presbyterian while Emmett Blake Jarrell, the father, is a member of the United Methodist Church. Court documents show the father as believing the children should be baptized when they are old enough to decide on their own. Many religious leaders are likely to side with the mother and saying she should not go to jail over the baptisms of the children who are 5 and 7.

 Some legal experts believe the court cannot get involved in this type of religious issue, but I see religion as being a tertiary and a minuscule aspect of this case when weighed against the defiance of a court order. The primary issue is how Lauren Jarrell defied a court order. The Tennessee Court of Appeals has sided with the father and believes she should face criminal charges for defying the order. We could say the secondary issue is how she defied a legal agreement with her ex-husband about the upbringing of the children. The tertiary issue is the religious aspects of the case. The true bearing of this case is how Lauren Jarrell willingly defied a court order and did not give the ex-husband notification of her actions and did not gain his approval. 

The impact of this case comes down to the children gaining a mixed understanding of religion and the law. If their mother does not pay for her crime against the court, the children might believe religion belief can be used as an excuse for breaking the law. The children might believe religion supersedes the courts. This is not true in the U.S. where people are prosecuted for committing crimes even if those crimes are driven by religious beliefs. If the mother does not go to jail we will be looking at a dangerous legal precedence to allow people do get off for crimes they can prove are religiously based.

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