The jail delivery exercise is an oversight mechanism provided for by the law wherein the Chief Judge is empowered to order the release of persons whose detention are manifestly unlawful or have been in prison custody for a period longer than the maximum period of imprisonment which the person detained could have served had he been convicted of the offence in respect of which he was detained. In pursuant of its objectives, the Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action PRAWA under the ‘Speeding-Up Criminal Justice Project in Enugu State’ funded by Justice for All J4A of DFID has been at the forefront of facilitating this exercise in Enugu State. The exercise which had held in Enugu and Oji River prisons recently finally took place at Nsukka Prisons.

The Enugu jail delivery exercise, due to the large number of ATPs, lasted for two days. The exercise held at Enugu Prisons on the 18th and 19th of March, 2013; Orji Prisons on the 26th of March, 2013 and finally at Nsukka Prisons on the 11th of April, 2013 at Nsukka Prison. The jail delivery exercise is a process aimed at the decongestion of prisons in line with speeding up delivery of criminal justice and enforcement of human rights of affected prisoners.

On Monday the 18th of March 2013 and Tuesday the 19th of March, 2013, the Chief Judge of Enugu State together with 7 other Judges conducted the jail delivery exercise at the Enugu Prisons; also present were the Attorney General of the state and a team of prosecutors including the Director of Public Prosecution. Representatives from various CSOs as well as PRAWA team who constituted the jail delivery Committee were also in attendance and represented the interests of the inmates.

During the jail delivery exercise in Enugu prison, a total number of 70 inmates benefited out of which 16 inmates were discharged and 2 were released to PRAWA for treatment; one was released to his people for treatment and the remaining 40 were granted bail. While at the Oji River Prisons, a total number of 27 inmates benefited from the exercise out of which 10 inmates were discharged and 17 granted bail. At the Nsukka Prisons, a total of 34 inmates benefited from the exercise; 9 were discharged, 1 was released to Catholic Institute of Development Justice and Peace CIDJAP Enugu for treatment, while the remaining 23 were granted bail and another released to his mother.

The recent jail delivery exercises conducted in Enugu State and led by the Chief Judge of Enugu State Honorable Justice Innocent Umezurike and assisted by the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice Enugu state Barrister Anthony Ani were reasonably successful as quite a number of inmates benefited from the exercise. On the whole, 35 inmates were discharged from the 3 prisons establishments at Enugu, Orji and Nsukka during the exercise. These Awaiting Trial Persons ATPs who benefited from the exercises were mostly those who have spent 5 years and above in prison without trial. The Attorney General also entered a nolle in favor of two deserving inmates at the Enugu Prison. One of the major highlights of this recent jail delivery in Enugu State was the gracious varying of bail conditions by the Chief Judge for some of the inmates who were previously granted bail but have been unable to perfect it. The justice sector analysts have described the recent interest, cross sectoral partnerships and cooperation of all criminal justice stakeholders in Enugu State under different interventions especially the Speeding-Up of Criminal Justice Project in Enugu State very good indications that the projects are yielding desired results.