Chief Judge of Kwara State, Justice Suleiman Kawu, has granted pardon to 16 convicted prisoners and awaiting trial inmates of Oke Kura and Mandala prisons in Ilorin.
The Chief Judge granted the pardon after reviewing their cases during a visit to the prisons on Thursday.
Justice Kawu said that the exercise was carried out on the request of the Federal Government through the State Government to effect prison decongestion in the country.
The chief judge however added that the exercise was not aimed at a short circuit court trial.
He added that the inmates were granted freedom either for unlawful arrest and detention, or civil cases that required no detention.
The Chief Judge said that implementation of the arrest of some of the inmates was not available, while facts supplied for arrested three juveniles that were detained for allegedly belonging to a group of armed robbers did not support the fact.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Oke Kura prisons with 121 capacity have a total of 425 inmates, while Mandala prisons have a capacity for 160 but house 239 inmates.
The Chief Judge said that he would pay regular visits to the prisons in order to decongest the prisons in the state.
Also speaking, the officer in charge of Ilorin Prison, DCP Adeyinka Adebayo, said that facilities in the prisons were overstretched.
He added that overpopulation of the prison inmates had resulted in the spread of different kinds of diseases like scabies, eczema, skin rashes, etc.