According to the official, the Abakaliki Correctional Service Custodial Centre has a total of 1,265 inmates out of which 31 of them are females.

The thirty-one female inmates in the Nigerian Correctional Service Custodial Centre, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, are all standing trial for murder.

The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ben Odo, disclosed this at the custodial centre on Tuesday.

He spoke when the wife of the state governor, Mary-Maudlin Nwifuru, paid fines for 41 male inmates of the centre convicted with the option of fines to secure their freedom.

A 16-year-old boy, Ogobuchi Ikebe, convicted for stealing Bluetooth, was among those released after Mrs Nwifuru paid a fine for him.

The Abakaliki Correctional Service Custodial Centre has a total of 1,265 inmates out of which 31 of them are females.

Mr Odo said none of the 31 female inmates were among the released inmates by the wife of the governor because they were facing capital offences.

He noted that if they are convicted, they would be transferred to Enugu maximum prison where those on death sentence are kept, awaiting execution.

One of the freed male inmates, Nwafor Emmanuel, 26, said he has been in the prison since August last year. He commended Mrs Nwifuru for "freeing" him.

He disclosed that he witnessed the death of five people inside the prison. "I will not do anything that will take me back to the prison," he said.

"I was convicted for stealing electricity-generating set."

Addressing the freed inmates, Mrs Nwifuru urged them to shun crime to avoid going back to the prison.

She assured them that she would continue to fight for the less privileged in society.