COVID-19: FG Pardons 2,600 Inmates Over Coronavirus

Two thousand six hundred inmates have been pardoned by the Federal Government in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, during a press briefing in Abuja, stating that the government granted the prisoners pardon.

He said that among those pardoned are the infirm and senior inmates.

According to the minister, inmates who are 60 years and above, those battling with health issues, prisoners who are to serve less than three years in jail and inmates with less than 6 months in jail time will get pardoned, with a fine of not more than N50,000.

He said, “This amnesty will not apply to inmates sentenced for violent extreme offences such as terrorism, kidnapping, armed banditry, rape, human trafficking, culpable homicide and so on."

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The pardons come off the back of pressure from civil groups like Amnesty International (AI), calling on the government to release some inmates in a bid to unclog the prisons.

As explained by the Director of AI, Osai Ojigho, “Prisoners and detainees at police and military facilities across Nigeria are at risk of contracting COVID-19 as they are held in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions that can be even more deadly in the hot weather."