The month of November began with the debriefing and Training of Officers in Charge (OC) of all the prisons under the Lagos State Command on Human Rights Principles and the applicability of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners (UNSMR).

The team of five officers that represented the Lagos State Prison Command at the Abuja National Human Rights Training organized in September by PRAWA was in charge of the debriefing session and training.

The hour long sensitization sessions had specific focus on Human Rights and UNSMR inspired good prison practices. The OCs present, promised their support for the Human Rights team, and agreed to teach the UNSMR guidelines as part of the weekly Thursday lectures in their various prisons.

After the debriefing, follow-up activities modeled after the session commenced in the prison yards, starting with the Medium and Female prisons (on 22 and 29 November 2012 respectively). It is expected that the activities will be replicated in other prisons within the Lagos metropolis before the end of the year or in January 2013.

While applauding the high level of compliance to the principles of the project observed so far from the prison officers, we hope that this continues even after the expiration of the project.