No fewer than 14 prisoners are on death row in Kwara State, The PUNCH has learnt.

Also, 65 convicted persons and 326 awaiting trial inmates are languishing in prisons in the state.

Of the 326 inmates, 324 are males while two are females.

Efforts to know whether the governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, would sign the death prisoners' warrants, commute their sentences or release them, proved abortive as his Senior Special Assistant, Dr. Muyideen Akorede, did not reply to our correspondent's inquiries.

Findings by our correspondent at the Ministry of Justice, showed that there were about 115 cases in court in 2012 while 85 others had been concluded.

Our correspondent also found out that the Office of the Public Defender in the outgoing year handled 223 cases with 186 already concluded, while 37 others were still pending in courts.

Also, the Legal Aid Council handled 424 cases in court in the outgoing year. Three hundred and five of the cases were concluded, while 119 cases are still ongoing. It engaged the services of 19 lawyers, comprising eight legal aid officers, three corps members and eight private practitioners.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General of the State, Mr. Kamaldeen Ajibade, said the state had decongested the prisons and improved on the living standard of the inmates.

He stated that the government had been budgeting funds annually to cater for payments to prosecution witnesses as well as providing logistics to the police in the state.

He added that the Justice Ministry organised intensive training for prosecutors; purchased photoping machines for police in order to hasten court cases in th state.

He also stated that it purchased seven Hilux vans to the police and a Hilux van for the state Criminal and Investigation Department as strategies to improving justice delivery in the state.

Ajibade said there was a monthly allocation of N250,000 by government for the running of OPD to enhance its duties.

Chief Judge of the state, Justice Ayinla Bamigbola, in an interview with our correspondent, said it was inappropriate to have prisons overcrowded with awaiting trial inmates.