No fewer than 238 inmates are awaiting trial at the Medium Security Prisons Auchi, Etsako-West Local Government Area of Edo.

The Assistant Comptroller, Auchi Prisons, Olorunfemi Obende, gave the figure in a statement on Thursday in Auchi.

Mr. Obende said that the figure comprised 234 male and four female inmates.

He said that the inmates were awaiting trial from offences ranging from armed robbery, murder, stealing, manslaughter, kidnapping, assault to fraud.

Mr. Obende bemoaned the number of pending cases in courts, noting that the development had posed a problem to the prison authorities, especially as the number had been on the increase.

“Some of these cases end up pending for three to four years, and the prison authorities have little or nothing to do about it,” he said.

He urged the judiciary to continue to work tirelessly in a bid to decongest the prisons.

Source: NAN