Group launches project to provide free legal service for inmates

nA human rights organisation, Headfort Foundation, has lamented that a lack of legal representation has caused hundreds of suspects to be trapped in Nigerian correctional homes.

The Executive Director of Headfort Foundation, Oluyemi Adetiba-Orija, claimed that many suspects have been held in correctional homes for months or even years without trial because they can’t afford a lawyer.

The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba, had in October directed magistrates to stop granting remand orders to the police, citing the complaint by the Nigeria Correctional Service that their facilities were already overcrowded and they could not take additional inmates.

In a circular dated October 23, 2023, the CJ directed that magistrates could only grant remand orders to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission but not to the police who bring “overnight” cases

Speaking at the launch of a mobile office for the ‘Lawyers without border’ project of the foundation, held in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State on Friday, the human rights lawyer attributed the congestion of correctional homes to the large number of people allegedly trapped inside without any legal representation.

According to her, more than 75 per cent of these persons are awaiting trial and they do not have the financial capacity to even contract the services of lawyers.

Adetiba-Orija revealed that the foundation had secured the release of 576 people who were wrongfully jailed or spent more than prescribed years for their offences because they didn’t have legal representation.

She explained that the Lawyers Without Border project is meant to provide free legal representation for Nigerians who cannot afford a lawyer when being charged to court.

She added, “The Lawyers without Border project was conceived in 2020 during COVID-19.  At the time we were restricted from going to prison, and we couldn’t go to prison to help take the cases of people who needed lawyers, because of the pandemic.

“So, that was when we conceived the idea of being or having a court within the court premises.

“The essence of this office is basically to make justice accessible to people who need it, people who are trapped in the Nigerian justice system, especially people who are in prison.

“There are a lot of people who cannot afford legal representation that are in prison. For example, Ikoyi prison is built for 800 persons and it accommodates about 3, 000 persons.

“We are having this office in some of these courts so that when they (suspects) are brought to court to answer to their charges, there is a pro bono lawyer, who is going to render a free service for them.

“From the opening of work to the close of work every day, the pro bono lawyer would be attending and providing free legal service, which include advice, representation in court, defence to these persons. And I am happy that today we are able to do this at Ikorodu.

“Regardless of the offence you’re being charged with, we are going to provide you with legal representation. It does not guarantee that the person will go scot-free.

“If the person has committed the offence, the court will definitely do its job by convicting or discharging the person. But at the end of the day, it will be known that the person has been given fair hearing.”

The Director of Public Prosecution, Dr Jide Martins, stressed that not having legal representation can make people be wrongfully jailed.

The director noted that legal representation is an essential factor in the justice system, especially in criminal matters.