The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, has freed 75 inmates from the Kirikiri Female, Medium and Maximum Prisons in Lagos.
Phillips released the inmates who were awaiting trials during her visit to the detention facilities on Tuesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that three inmates were released at the maximum facility, while 71 were set free at the medium prison.
Only one inmate was released at the female prison.
In her speech, Phillips admonished the pardoned inmates to “go and sin no more”.
She said the gesture was aimed at reducing congestion at the prisons and release some inmates who had been awaiting trial for many years.
The chief judge, who is to retire on July 25, said that prison congestion was still a big challenge in spite of her efforts to address the problem during her tenure.
“I really don’t know what more I could have done as a person to reduce the number of awaiting trial inmates.
“They form the bulk of the number of persons in our prisons today and we need to go back to the drawing board to see how we can reduce it,” she said.
Phillips said the various reforms in the criminal justice system, particularly the introduction of the bail guidelines, were all geared towards achieving this objective.
She said the judiciary would partner the Lagos State Government to ameliorate the plight of inmates, especially those at the female prison.
Earlier in his address, the Deputy Controller, Maximum Security Prison, DCP Olumide Tinuoye, said the facility had 366 convicts while 389 inmates were awaiting trial.
Tinuoye commended the jail delivery exercise and urged the freed inmates not to go back to crimes.
Speaking to journalists, one of the released inmates from the female prison, Miss Maddy Freedom, commended the chief judge for setting her free.
The 27-year old woman, who was incarcerated for over two years over alleged jewelry theft, urged Nigerian youths to shun criminal acts that could send them to jail.