On a hot, windy Thursday afternoon
in May, three gaunt looking men in
oversized clothes stood in a dock, a
few metres away from a magistrate
inside a tiny court room that serves
as the Special Court in Alausa, Lagos.
Outside the room, crime suspects –
the young and the elderly – and their
lawyers discussed freely as the
former awaited their turn in the dock.
Inside the court, the three men, their
arms folded before then, stared at the
bench as the magistrate carefully
read out her judgment: “…You are
hereby sentenced to 390 days in
prison.”
That day, over 100 persons were
sentenced to various prison terms for
minor environmental offences by the
Lagos State Special Offences Court, a
court established to prosecute
environmental offenders and other
related offences in the state.
But the presence of 12 underage
children among the convicts has
raised concerns about what human
rights lawyers say is a continuous
dispatch of children to prisons where
criminals are kept, by the Lagos State
government, contrary to the dictates
of the Child Rights Act.
The state government had, however,
insisted that no underage person was
convicted.
“If they are not minors, let us see
them. Present them to the press. We
have the facts and we know they are
minors,” said Joshua Olufemi of Light
Behind Bars, a non governmental
organization that fights for the rights
of children.
Section 221 of the Child Rights Act
says that ‘No child shall be ordered to
be imprisoned; subjected to corporal
punishment; or subjected to death
penalty or have the death penalty
recorded against him.”
Underaged Inmates
On June 7, the Prisoners’ Rights
Advocacy Initiative, PRAI, a non
governmental organization,
petitioned the Lagos State Attorney
General over the “shocking incidence”
of under-aged persons serving prison
terms in Kirikiri and Badagry Prisons.
Some of the inmates, imprisoned by
the Special Court in Alausa, were
males and females aged between 13
and 17 years, according to PRAI.
“We were reliably informed that these
children were arrested at Oshodi at
about 10 p.m. on their way home
after the day’s work and sentenced to
390 days imprisonment by
Magistrate Jadesola Adeyemi sitting
in Alausa, Ikeja, on the 2nd of May
2013,” Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem,
Director, PRAI, stated in the petition.
“We were informed that about 162
persons were sentenced on that day,
made up of majorly children and
young persons.
“We were also informed that about 64
were remanded at Badagry prison,
about 64 were remanded at Kirikiri
Medium prison out of which 30 have
been transferred to Kirikiri Maximum
prison, while 36 are presently serving
term at the Kirikiri Female prison,”
Mr. Adetola-Kazeem added.
Prior to their sentencing by the
magistrate, the group said, the
arrested persons were arraigned
without a lawyer, no charge was read
to them in the language they
understood, and they were told to
plead guilty as there are dire
consequences for doing otherwise.
“The magistrate ordered that the kids
be remanded in Kirikiri and Badagry
Prisons,” Mr. Adetola-Kazeem
continued.
“We visited Kirikiri Female and
Maximum Prisons, prisons meant for
the worst offences and to our dismay
we found young boys and girls who
were alleged to have committed
obstruction, breach of peace, and
being disorderly without proof. This
from experience will only breed more
hardened criminals who will engage
in more heinous crimes after release.”
The group called for an inquiry into
the activities of the Lagos State Task
Force on Environmental and Special
Offences, especially in relation to
rights abuses, as well as the
immediate release of all the under-
aged persons to their guardians or
their transfer to a correctional facility
http://premiumtimesng.com/news/151080-investigation-lagos-govt-imprisoning-underaged-children.html

Too bad....

This should be properly investigated. Its an infringement of human right to be locked up without proper hearing talk more of it been children. Lag st govt has some questions to answer.

When I did my project research work in 2005,I had to do eye test for inmates of Nigeria prisons sapele road in benin city also known as white house and to my utter dismay and shock I found a 12years old boy in prison awaiting trial because his oga (a bus driver ) killed a pedestran and ran away. Infact our prison system needs a total overhaul. Many people are in jail for crimes or misdemeanour that community service should have been prescribed. Imagine a man charged with bulglary awaiting trial for 8 years,its so sad. Back to topic a thorough investigation has to be done because Nigerian prisons don't reform but make neophyte criminals hardened it could be related in similitude to a look out for a crime becomes the man to pull the trigger after a prison sentence

Akshow: This should be properly investigated. Its an infringement of human right to be locked up without proper hearing talk more of it been children. Lag st govt has some questions to answer.

This is inhuman...somebody should please curb this Lagos state govt.
One of my staff was a victim last year, the company paid about #36000 to bail him.
The state govt use this means to generate money if you can't pay the person is jailed.How do you expect a pure water, chinchin,nuts, soft drink or gala hawkers to get that kind of money when their daily profit might not be up to #1000. LET US RISE AND SAY NO TO THIS INJUSTICE ;THEIR CHILDREN ARE ABROAD SCHOOLING WITH THE MONEY MEANT FOR THESE MILLIONS ON THE STREET AND THEY STILL HAVE THE GUT TO ARREST THEM SHAME ON THOSE KAI OFFICIALS "POOR PEOPLE OPPRESSING THE POOR"

MY VERDICT THOSE UNDERAGE CHILDREN SHOULD BE FREED IMMEDIATELY LET THE FEMI FALANAS AND TUNDE BAKARES SAVE THIS MINORS AS THEY FREED GOV CHIME'S WIFE.

NIGERIANS NEED YOU NOW SIRS DEFEND THE HELPLESS.

This is really absurd and inhumane. A society where the poor have no say, where their rights are been trampled upon.

A country where the real thieves are left without prosecution.

I wonder if any poor Nigerian will go to hell, cos they are living a hell-like life already.

Chino aka Princess2be aka bestview aka one.east aka jbaur.......

Thank you, at least you can see who is bringing up and challenging the govt, here no matter how good we perceived our govt to be good and hardworking...we will challenge and question them if they stray out of line...that is in good conscience.

You on the other hand, will not only shield your own, but will insult, abuse and attack any one from the other side that attempt to question your governors and other goverment officials accused of any malfeasance.

That is the difference between us and you.

BTW...the allegation against LASG action if true stands totally condemned.

Most observers will agree that, barring disagreements over the frequency of its occurrence, the violation of our Child Rights Act remains an open sore on the conscience. For evidence of this, one needs to look no further than the plethora of civil liberty organisations springing up, to safeguard the interests of the Nigeria child.

Like other commentators who have reacted to this article, I was also going to express outrage before following up behind the scenes with a plan of remedial action - after all, in this particular instance, there is a named magistrate (Jadesola Adeyemi), a court where the sentencing took place, and also a specific date. I was going to do just this until due diligence prompted me to drill down a little further on the facts presented...

LASG denies jailing 162 children for minor offences

JULY 12, 2013


Lagos State Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye

Lagos State Government on Thursday said its special court did not imprison 162 children for environmental offences as alleged.

The state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ade Ipaye, said at a press briefing on Thursday that the category of convicts referred to in the reports were adults and were only 115 in number.

The PUNCH had in its report observed that the convicts whose ages were not confirmed, were imprisoned for up to 390 days for minor environmental offences without having legal representations and adequate time to prepare for their defence.

The Chief Judge of the state, Justice Ayotunde Philips, also reportedly warned the magistrate, Mrs. Jadesola Adeyemi, who sentenced the convicts for not imposing community service instead of sending them to jail.

Ipaye said on Thursday that the magistrate and the court registrar took conscious efforts to ascertain that the convicts were not juveniles.

He said, “We have concluded an investigation into the matter. In the first place, the number of defendants that were arraigned on the said day was 115 and not 162 as reported.

“As you may be aware, it is customary for the prosecutor to indicate the name, the age, the gender and address of the defendants on the charge sheets.

“None of the defendants had his or her age stated as being below 18.”

Ipaye assured the people that the government would continue to ensure that no underage offenders were incarcerated in adult prisons in the state.


He added that his ministry had intensified its efforts on prison decongestion through regular prison visitations and speedy review of case files of inmates awaiting trial.

Ipaye said, “On June 13, we visited the Kirikiri Female, Medium and Maximum Prisons.

“In the Female Prison, we discovered that out of the 226 inmates, 171 were ‘awaiting trial’, with only 54 inmates already convicted.

“At the Maximum Prison, we discovered 121 inmates who were 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.”

On the issue of death penalty, Ipaye explained that President Goodluck Jonathan did not give any directive to state governors on the signing of warrants of prisoners on death row.

He said, “The President merely gave an advice. Our criminal law provides for the death penalty.

“The Constitution requires every governor to implement all laws of the state but the governors are hesitating for two major reasons.

“The convicts’ right to appeal and the prerogative of mercy granted them by the constitution.”

Source

This is the cost of returning a lawful and sane society back to her original glory .things

bloggernaija: This is the cost of returning a lawful and sane society back to her original glory .things

The moral cost of jailing children is not one our society should bear.
It is disappointing that you appear unperturbed by this 'unsubstantiated' allegation.

bloggernaija: This is the cost of returning a lawful and sane society back to her original glory .things

This is a daft statement.

Why not show us pictures? I will believe and fight against this act when I see pictures

bloggernaija: This is the cost of returning a lawful and sane society back to her original glory .things

Are you alright? We are talking kid for God sake.

Enjoy your Fascist regime.

This is why I hate APC and Fashola because they are heartless bast@rds

This is child abuse.