PRESS RELEASE

by Press ReleaseUncategorized

1000 INDIGENT PRE-TRIAL DETAINEES IN NIGERIA TO GET FREE LEGAL REPRESENTATION THROUGH NGO PARTNERSHIP

Date: Monday, 17th August 2020 

As of July 2020, 72.7% of incarcerated persons across Nigeria’s Correctional facilities are awaiting trial. This is so despite the decongestion activities occasioned by the pandemic carried out by the Federal government and various state governments within the past 4 months. With the restriction on visits to custodial centers to prevent the coronavirus from getting into Nigeria’s Correctional Facilities, the human rights of several indigent pre-trial detainees are violated as they are been denied access to justice.

Access to Justice for 1000 Pre-trial Detainees summarily called Justice for 1000 is an initiative of Flemer Project Initiative in partnership with Hope behind Bars Africa Initiative which is funded by Partners West Africa and The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (Hill). Flemer Project Initiative is an organization that helps indigent pretrial detainees conclude their matters in court as quickly as possible with the help of young volunteer lawyers, and uses tech to monitor the progress of representation provided by the lawyers. Hope behind Bars Africa is an organization with the mission of being a beacon of hope to the incarcerated using action, education, and advocacy. Both organizations have previously provided free legal representation to over 130 indigent pretrial detainees in Lagos and F.C.T, Abia, Edo, Niger, and Nasarawa state respectively.

The project has the following objectives:

– To facilitate access to justice for indigent pretrial detainees charged with minor offenses by supporting and incentivizing young lawyers who provide legal representation to such persons within the earliest possible time.  

– To work with all relevant stakeholders in the Criminal Justice System towards holistic decongestion of correctional facilities.

– To promote the implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and the Nigerian Correctional Service Act on provisions that relates to alternatives to incarceration and restorative justice practices in criminal matters.

The project is set to kick start in Lagos, Edo, Kano, Kaduna, Nasarawa, and F.C.T by August 2020.

END

For further information, kindly contact:  

Flemer Project Initiative                                     Hope behind Bars Africa Initiative

Email: flemerproject@gmail.com                               Email: letstalk@hopebehindbarsafrica.org

Telephone: +234-90338147                                     Telephone: +234-8057872764

Emergency Welfare Intervention for Prison Inmates

by Covid-19 InterventionsUncategorized

The world is currently battling the Corona Virus Pandemic. COVID-19 is spread through droplets released into the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Symptoms show up in people within 14 days of exposure to the virus. The symptoms include cough, fever, shortness of breath, muscle aches, sore throat, unexplained loss of taste or smell, Diarrhea and Headache. In rare cases, COVID-19 can lead to severe respiratory problems, kidney failure or death. Also, some patients may not show any such symptoms. Such patients may just be carriers of the virus, and can spread it to others. Diagnosis with only a physical examination may be difficult because mild cases of COVID-19 may appear similar to the flu or a bad cold.

Doubtless the covid19 season is a tough season for everyone. This is even more so for people in confined places like the Nigerian Correctional Facilities where the movement and social distancing is very limited because of space. This is why as is our mandate to reach out to inmates, on 11th May, Hope Behind Bars Africa Initiative with support from LEAP Africa, Citi bank and Dow Chemicals through the COVID19 Emergency Prison Fund took interventions to the prisons.

Our core message centres around protection and prevention of spread through prison decongestion as a means to #zerocovid19inprison. We also sensitised on social distancing, use of face masks, thorough hand washing and a proper hygiene system. We interacted with the prison officers and provided pictorial IEC materials donated by Youth rise Nigeria to enable them properly guide the inmates.

With the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the number of usual supports enjoyed by this prisons has greatly dwindled. We therefore supported inmates with palliatives which includes 5 bags of 50kg rice, -2 bags of garri, 1 bag of beans, 3 gallons of red oil, 2 bags of salt (50 pieces each), Half bag of sugar, 1 bag of Kulikuli, 1 and half carton of Milo,1 and half cartoon of Milk 1 cartoon of Maggi, 20 pieces of Minimie Chin Chin, 5 cartons of digestive biscuit, 10 cartoons of Viva detergent, 5 cartons of bathing soap, 12 Mosquito nets, 20 bathing buckets, 20 packs of toilet rolls, 2 and half packs of Sanitary pads, 1 cartoon of Dettol disinfectant, 36 pieces of Vaseline,  3 hand washing drums, 20 Hand sanitizers for officers, 20 face mask for officers to all 228  inmates  and officers of Old Keffi Correctional Facility.

Call For Application

by Hope Behind Bar Courses

Hope behind Bars Africa Initiative in partnership with Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide invites suitably qualified candidates to apply for its 1st Short Course on Capital Representation for Law Students and Young lawyers scheduled to take place in July 2020.

Introduction

As at May 2020, 72.2% of people in correctional facilities in Nigeria are awaiting trial. Research indicates that indigent pre-trial detainees struggle to access legal representation as few attorneys specialize in criminal defense. Due to systemic failures and lack of resources innocent women and men risk been sentenced to death for offences they never committed. It is our belief that because the death penalty is an irreparable sanction, its imposition should only occur when the defendant is well-represented.

Course Overview

The course encourages its participants to approach death penalty representation strategically beginning from the first meeting with the client in prison. It includes topics that examine the steps involved in interviewing and counseling clients facing capital charges and how to elicit facts for mitigation investigation. Participants will be introduced to how issues of mental health and intellectual disability come to play in their client’s case.  Other presentations include International human rights law and how to approach UN treaty bodies, maximizing the law clinic experience to compete globally and a session that opens participants up to the possibilities in capital representation using the Malawi Capital Resentencing Project as a case study. Beyond the theoretical aspect, interested and selected participants will have the opportunity to learn empirically with the organization’s capital trial project.”

Faculty

The faculty consists of practitioners from  Cornell University Center on Death Penalty Worldwide, the alumni of its Makwanyane Institute and its human rights partners combining both an academic analysis and a practical assessment of different human rights/death penalty situation faced by law clinic students and lawyers around the world.

Eligibility Criteria

Participants need to be :

  • Law students from 300 level to 500 level who have shown interest in pro bono work or are members of a law clinic. OR young lawyers  less than 3 years post call with demonstrable interest in human rights or criminal justice.
  • Be resident in Abuja, Nigeria.                

 *Female students and lawyers are strongly encouraged to apply.

All applications are now closed.