Many accused persons spend extended periods in prison custody awaiting the resolution of their cases due to lack of legal representation. The major cause of this is usually that majority of these prisoners are indigent and as a result cannot afford to hire the services of a private lawyers.

However, a light of hope of accessing justice is shining on remand prisoners in Enugu Maximum Security Prison, Kano Central Prison and Lagos Ikoyi Prison. Courtesy of the Security and Justice Reform Programme, Prison Reform Project close to 600 cases of awaiting trial persons without legal representation spread across the 3 project target prisons have been obtained and assigned to volunteer pro bono lawyers who have signed up to take up cases pro bono under the project. The list of agencies working in collaboration with PRAWA for the actualization of the above are the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, a federal government agency with the statutory mandate to provide legal aid to indigent persons, the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigerian Prison Service and the following law offices:

Lagos- Charles Musa & Co, James Sonde& co, Ariyo Odole & Co, Emeka Nwadioke & Co, Wale Fadiye & Co, Nasir Salau & Co, J.H. Bashir & Co,  ARS Solicitors, Abdulkareem & Abdulkareem    

Enugu- J.U Gbanigo, Star Chambers, Sam-Forster Okoye & Co, Churchill & Cross Solicitor, J.O. Udensi & Co,  

Kano- Triple Bond Attorneys, Al-Naseerah Chamber, Mallam Ibrahim Salisu Chambers, Audu Bulama & Associate, A.A. Gadanya& Co, Malam Ghazali & Co,  

IMPACT SO FAR……….

The following are the success stories of the PLSS Component of the Prison Reform Project (PRP) since the deployment of paralegals to the 3 project target prisons in March, 2017:

As mentioned earlier, close to 600 awaiting trial persons without legal representation have been interviewed by the paralegals across the 3 states in view of the assignment of their cases to volunteer pro bono lawyers under the project.

In Enugu, the project has achieved the discharge of one Kinsley Chime awaiting trial since 2014 on a charge of defilement, the discharge of the oldest female on awaiting trial Uche Nwayawu, and the discharge of Sunday Ani awaiting trial on a charge of armed robbery by the High Court.

In Lagos, it recorded the release of Rasheed Fatai standing trial for conspiracy, conduct likely to cause breach of peace and stealing, the case of Lanre Badmus charged with stealing was discharged for want of diligent prosecution, also secured the discharge of Michael Sekuno aged 76 years charged with assault, and Aritsekola Oladayo who already spent one month in prison for a case of default debt of N30, 000,

Also in Lagos, the PRP encountered the case of Ifeanyi Okafor rescued from attempting to kill himself and remanded at the Ikoyi prison, the attention of the paralegals conducting inmates interview were called to his case by the officer-in-charge of the prison. Barr. Chinelo Uchendu took up the matter and made an application to the court for an order under S. 233 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos 2011 which provides that “Any person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of a simple offence and the court shall make a hospitalization order”. The lawyer’s application was granted as prayed by the court and thereafter the young man was handed over to other NGOs interested in the case for further action.

In Kano, during the recently conducted prison decongestion exercise by the Chief Judge of the State, the Kano State Coordinator of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria presented and argued the case of 15 inmates registered under the Prison Reform Project out of which 5 were discharged.

The 5 beneficiaries are: Sani Hamza who has been in prison custody awaiting trial for 10 years on a charge of armed robbery, Umar Ibrahim awaiting trial on a charge of armed robbery for 6 years, Nura Dodo awaiting trial on charge of murder for 3 years, Moses Yakubu awaiting trial on a charge of armed robbery for 4 years and Auwalu Ado in prison custody for 5 years awaiting trial on a charge of armed robbery.

WORDS FROM THE PRO BONO LAWYERS

…………You needed to see the big smile on the inmate’s face. He jumped and shouted from the court cell “Auntie I am here, I filled your form at Ikoyi prison”….. #one of those smiles that keeps me motivated to do this work.

Barr. Chinelo Uchendu’

Lagos

…………..The inmate that gave me a big beautiful smile in court this morning has finally been discharged by court, He says a big THANK YOU to the Prison Reform Project Team-

Barr. Chinelo Uchendu,

Lagos

……………am happy to inform you that on the 7^th March, 2017 one of the female oldest awaiting trial inmate in Enugu Prison that was standing trial for murder Miss Uche Nwayawu was discharged the High Court in Enugu. Also Mr. Sunday Ani that was charged with armed robbery was also discharged by the High Court in Enugu. Enugu pro bono lawyers are in action as more discharges are in progress-.

Barr. Sam-Forster Okoye,

Enugu