The Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Simeon Chibuzor-Amadi, will on July 17, 2025, lead a jail delivery exercise at the Port Harcourt Maximum Security Custodial Centre, in a renewed effort to address the alarming number of inmates awaiting trial.
The initiative, announced by the Chief Registrar of the State High Court, David Ihua-Maduenyi, is aimed at decongesting the overcrowded facility in line with provisions of the state’s Administration of Criminal Justice Law.
Justice Amadi’s intervention comes amid growing concern over the state of the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre, which, according to figures released in October 2024 by the former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dagogo Iboroma (SAN), houses over 20,000 inmates — the vast majority of whom are awaiting trial.
In a related move, the Chief Judge has also approved the deployment of magistrates to the Degema and Ahoada correctional centres from today through Wednesday, July 9, to accelerate the handling of delayed cases.
The jail delivery exercise is expected to offer reprieve to scores of inmates held without trial and marks a significant step toward reducing systemic delays in the state’s criminal justice process.
