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Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Hon Justice Ekaete Fabian Obot has released a total of 54 inmates in the Four Correctional Centers of Ikot Abasi, Eket, Ikot-Ekpene and Uyo in the state.

Among those released were a nursing mother who gave birth in custody and a mentally deranged person.

She ordered the welfare unit of the Correctional Centre to trace the family of the mad man, Daniel Bassey Ukpong, so that he would be handed over to them for proper medical treatment.

Out of the 54 freed inmates, 18 were released on health grounds for sickness which ranged from leprosy, tuberculosis, kidney failure, HIV/AIDs, among others.

The Chief Judge released them during an inspection visit to the facilities which started from Wednesday and ended on Friday, March 14, 2025.

Apart from those released on health grounds, others were freed for want of prosecution, trump up charges and on compassionate grounds.

Obot observed that most of the inmates freed had spent between two and eight years in prison custody for minor offences without trial or charges, adding that their continuous detention without being taken to courts was a breach of their rights and a clog in the wheel of justice.

The Chief Judge charged them to be of good behaviour and avoid anything that would bring them back to the correctional service.

In one of her rulings, she said, “You have spent more than seven years without going to court and your charge abandoned.

“Some of you are here on trump up charges, some have missing case files, others whose cases are lacking in prosecution and those who have serious medical issues that cannot be attended by the centre are hereby released unconditionally, go and be of good behaviour and get better medical care for those that are sick.”

Speaking on the snail pace of Justice delivery, Justice Obot blamed the Directorate of Police Prosecution, DPP, for having too many unattended cases and urged them to up their game and clear their table before her next visit.

She also decried the issue of missing files and charged the Officer in Charge of Legal matters to take the concern she raised seriously.

Standing before the Chief Judge, Blessing Iniobong George, a mother of three currently nursing a two-month-old infant, narrated how she was arrested while pregnant on allegation of child theft which she was innocent of.

She said during the vigil of her late father-in-law, she was very weak having worked tirelessly with other women, adding that she slept off in a mat alongside other women around.

According to her, in the morning, one of the women said she lay her baby beside her and the baby got lost.

Blessing explained that the woman accused her of stealing her baby and all the entreaties from people fell on deaf ears as the woman got her arrested and asked her to produce her lost child or perish in jail.

Also, two siblings, Udeme Edet Etim and Unyime Edet Etim who were released narrated how their elder brother locked them up for five years on accusations of conspiracy and stealing.

“We have been having issues with our elder brother and one day he called the police.

“We were arrested, detained and later bright to prison since 2020 and they said we conspired to steal. Since that time we have been here and have not gone to court,” they narrated.

From Eket custodial centre, one Friday Nkereuwem who spent over two years in custody told the Chief Judge how she was arrested by the father of a girl he got pregnant and wanted to marry on the claims that he abducted his daughter.

According to him, ‘My Lord, I am in prison because of the girl I love. The girl was pregnant for me and when she gave birth to our baby, I was very happy and out of excitement, I took her and the child to Calabar to introduce to my parents and explain to them what transpired.

“When we later came back to Akwa Ibom, my in-law arrested me that I abducted her daughter and that was how I came here.”

Meanwhile, the officers in charge of the different custodial centres, in their remarks, thanked the Chief Judge for taking further steps to decongest the prisons which they said were overwhelmed.