PRAWA applauds the Law Clinic of the University of Abuja for successfully securing the release of 36 awaiting trial detainees from Kuje Prisons, Abuja, Nigeria.

On the 29th January 2014, the Law Clinic approached the authorities of Kuje prisons in a bid to help some awaiting trial detainees who have been unable to secure legal representation. While interviewing several inmates, it was discovered that 36 persons were accosted for public nuisance cases. The arrest of these people for sleeping in uncompleted buildings because they were homeless highlights the several inadequacies within the Nigerian justice system. These individuals have menial jobs like scavenging waste bins, water hawking, shoe-repairs, among others. Yet they were given bail conditions that include the sum of at least N5, 000 ($31) and a surety who is a civil servant or owns a landed property in Abuja. For an individual that is unable to afford his daily meal or shelter, those bail conditions seem almost impossible.

The Law Clinic contacted some pro-Bono lawyers who represented the 36 awaiting trial detainees at the Wuse Zone 2 Magistrate Court. They also contacted some relatives of the detainees, who confirmed that they had been experiencing difficulties in meeting the set bail conditions. Regardless of the various challenges faced in conveying the inmates to court, the Law Clinic’s determination ensured that all of them were acquitted on 3^rd March 2014.