Nine pregnant women and eight babies are among 222 inmates currently inside the high walls of the female section of Kirikiri prisons.

Omotilewa Ibirogba, the director, Directorate of Citizens Rights (DCR) said this on Thursday.

Ibirogba said the babies would be taken from their mothers and handed over to their appointed relations, once they attained 24 months.

The DCR boss who led an eight-man team of her department on a welfare check to the prisons and to donate toiletries, said the Lagos state government is making effort‎ to decongest the prisons.

It was observed that the Kirikiri prison which is over populated, has 175 awaiting trials, 43 convicted persons, two on life imprisonment, while the remaining two are condemned inmates.

Although Ibirogba stated that most of the inmates have legal ‎representations and have been granted bails, to perfect such bail conditions has been the problem.

However, she said there were plans by her directorate to provide free legal services to those whose cases are not going on well in the court, while applications would be filed in courts to vary bail conditions for those already granted bail by the courts.

“I am sure they now take very good care of them”, she added.