AKURE—Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko yesterday commissioned the first court to be built in a prison premises, High Court number 10, at the  Olokuta Prison, Akure. Governor Mimiko also promised to provide the inmates with a clinic to ensure adequate health as drugs would be provided free of charge.

Speaking on the occasion, Mimiko said the building of the court was  being taken to decongest the prisons and ensure  quick dispensation of justice, assuring that other measures which would further assist the criminal justice system would be put in place.

Mimiko said the Olokuta Prison has the capacity for 160 inmates, as against the 688 currently accommodated in it, adding that with the court now brought within the Prison premises, justice would be dispensed promptly.

Eulogising the idea behind the court building which he described as monumental, he said the size of the building did not matter but, rather, the idea behind it, noting that anytime the history of the nation’s judiciary was written, the initiative would be remembered.

According to him, if violent criminals were kept under remand without the assurance of conclusion of their trials, it might jeopardize the safety of the society, stressing that efforts must be intensified to address the situation.