A total of 37 inmates were given state pardon on Thursday at Abologo Correctional Centre, Oyo town in Oyo State.

This came barely 24 hours after the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Munta Abimbola, released 32 inmates at Agodi Correctional Centre in Ibadan, the state capital.

The 69 inmates were said to have been given state pardon in a bid to give them another opportunity and to decongest the correctional centres in the state.

The 32 inmates that were released on Wednesday comprised of 25 males and seven females, while those released on Thursday comprised of 36 males and one female.

Among the inmates were 67 who were awaiting trial with two already convicted. They were said to have served a substantial part of their sentences at the correctional centres.

The two convicted inmates were said to have been recommended for release by officials of the correctional centre on the grounds of good behaviour. They were, therefore, released on parole by the special court.

Justice Abimbola noted on Thursday that a total of 123 inmates were recommended to the Administration of Criminal Law Justice Monitoring Committee for pardon, out of which 37 were released.

He stated that seven were released on medical grounds; one was sentenced to community service within the neighbourhood of his parent’s house with prisons uniform.

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Two inmates were released on bail, one of whom was a lawyer accused of perjury and forgery.

A total of 25 were released on compassionate and sympathetic grounds, while two convicted inmates were released on the recommendation of the advice of the authorities of the correctional centres based on the certification of their good behaviours.

He said, “If the circumstance of arrest is irregular, inappropriate and unconstitutional, the detention will also be irregular and such people should be released.”

The Abolongo Correctional Centre was built to accommodate 160 inmates. But it had a total of 452 inmates out of which 66 are convicts and 286 are awaiting trial inmates before the release of the 37 inmates.