Lagos captures data of 14,636 inmates

Lagos State has enrolled 14,636 inmates from the five Federal Prisons in the state on the Lagos Criminal Information System (LCIS) as at December 2018.

The five Federal Prisons are Ikoyi, Badagry, Kirikiri Female, Medium and Maximum Security Prisons.

The quarterly report of the LCIS for October to December of last year put the current inmate population of the five Federal Prisons at 9,247 as against their total capacity of 4,087 inmates, indicating the inadequacies of the facilities to cater for the increasing number of inmates.

The data also lent credence to the call by the state government for the construction and provision of new prison facilities in the state.

The report indicated that the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) of the Ministry of Justice issued a total of 358 legal advices from the 358 duplicate case files received.

The breakdown showed that 51 pieces of advice were issued for miscellaneous (stealing) related offences, 138 for sexual offences, 91 for robbery, 50 for homicide while 28 accounted for fatal motor accident.

The data from the report has again established that “stealing is still the most prevailing offence for which inmates are incarcerated, followed closely by such offences as: breach of peace, cultism, fighting, murder and armed robbery”.

On crime demography in the state, the LCIS report revealed that “top five locations where inmates committed offences are Mushin, Apapa, Oshodi, Agege and Ibeju- Lekki.

While cases of defilement constituted 59 per cent of domestic and sexual offenders, rape and sexual assault account for 20 per cent and nine per cent

In the period under review, 75 per cent of inmates at the Federal Prisons in Lagos State are recorded to be  Awaiting Trial, with 17 per cent convicted inmates and six percent on remand.

During the launch of the LCIS on July 24, 2018, Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adeniji Kazeem (SAN),  explained that the LCIS, to be administered by his office, would serve as the databank where critical information on inmates and criminal activities, and crime demography would be stored to further enhance the administration of justice in Lagos State.