No fewer than 30 inmates have been profiled for parole as part of efforts to decongest the facilities in the correctional command in Edo.

The controller of correctional facilities in Edo, Sunday Oyakhire, disclosed this on Tuesday at a stakeholders’ meeting on non-custodial measures in Benin. It was organised by the Prisons Rehabilitation and Welfare Action.

The controller said they had visited two of their centres, where they had sensitised the inmates on the need to embrace parole. This was with the aim of rehabilitating and reintegrating them into society.

Parole is a conditional release of a prisoner serving an indeterminate or unexpired sentence.

“On the 13th of June, we had a sensitisation with our inmates on parole, Edo State, where we went to the two custodial centres. There is a high hope because, as it is now, we have profiled almost 33 inmates to be handled under parole,” he said.

PRAWA president Uju Agomoh, an associate professor of Criminology and Security Studies, Christland University, Abeokuta, said the purpose was to highlight the advantages of alternatives to imprisonment.

The PRAWA boss explained that non-custodial options, such as community service and probation, offer rehabilitation and cost savings, creating a “win-win” situation for the government and society.

The Edo chief judge, Justice Daniel Okungbowa, expressed hope for inter-agency collaboration to reduce congestion in prisons.

(NAN)