NULAI/OSIWA Pre-Trial Project Self Reflection
I sit in class, book on my
desk, pen in hand and wonder "what do I write on Self reflection?".
I look in retrospect at my
experience so far in the entire OSIWA Pre trial detainee project and smiling to
myself I admit 'I have quite a number of things to write on!".
My name is Abalaka Sabina, a
400 level clinician from the University of Abuja Law Clinic and my pre trial
project experience began properly after the pre prison visit workshop after
which I was assigned in a project team with four other Clinicians. Abdulrahim,
Dara, Khadijah, Asmau and myself. We come up with Team LIBERTY as team name, we
outline our values as a team, we carry out research on what the Pre trial
detainees project is all about, we set relevant achieveable goals and
objectives for the team, we assign roles to each member of the team for the
duration of the project, we watch videos on Client interview and counselling sessions
online,we carry out mock Client interview and counselling sessions as a team,
whilst getting to know each other better as individuals and creating
relationships that would last even after the completion of the Pre trial
detainee project.
On the 18th of April 2018,
Team LIBERTY along with several other project teams and a Clinic Coordinator
visits the Suleja Maximum Security Prison, Niger state to interview pre trial
detainees and help them get access to justice.
This is actually my first time
travelling beyond Abuja and for a lover of travel and sight seeing like myself,
one can only imagine the great excitement I feel as I see the famous Zuma rock
live and direct for the very first time in my life en route the Suleja Prison
in Niger state. Really exciting.
We arrive the Prison and at
the Prison gate, go through brief screening by the Prison Wardens to ensure we
are not with any contraband. The Officer in charge certifies us and we go in
with tags for proper identification. We take our seats under a canopy set in
the yard by the Prison Officers for the purpose of the interview.
A little distance from where
we sit, Christian inmates are having a fellowship, Wardens move up and down the
premises attending to one thing or the other. Some Inmates carry loaves of
bread from an open office into a building that looks like a kitchen to me, a
few other inmates carry water in buckets into the same building.
We begin interviewing Pre
trial detainees, some are quite receptive, others are not. Some seem quite hopeful,
others not so much. Some are verbose, others are more relunctant in expression.
As I listen to the Pre trial
detainees in the course of the interview, something strikes me. Five out of the
six Pre trial detainees my team interviewed claim that none of their relative
is aware that they are in Prison. I mentally go through some provisions of the
ACJA 2015 and I ask myself "doesn't this contravene the provision of
section 6 (c) of the ACJA?" During my team's research, we learnt that upon
arrest, the authority having custody of the suspect shall have the
responsibility of notifying the next of kin or relative of the suspect of the
arrest at no cost to the suspect. But right now, these men claim they are not
allowed to communicate with their wives or any other relative. So yes, this
definitely contravenes the provision of section 6 (c) of the ACJA 2015! I mean,
many Pre trial detainees cannot afford bail and hence stay longer in detention.
But think of this: how many persons would be informed that their relative is in
need of money for bail in order to get out of detention and still willfully
allow them wallow in Prison?
A lot of Pre trial detainees
are in Prison without any of their relatives being aware that that they have
been arrested, thus leading to unnecessary anxiety and heartache on both ends.
A Pre trial detainee laments to my teammates and I in the course of his
interview. He is in great distress as his pregnant wife has not heard from him
in weeks and has no idea he is in Prison. He wonders how she fares and wishes
he can make at least one call across to her, to be sure she is perfectly fine
and to let her know where he has been all the while.
Another Pre trial detainee
informs us that his wife and two children are in Jos and do not know he is in
Prison. He hopes he gets out soon and be reunited with his family once again.
This is practically the same issue with several other Pre trial detainees
interviewed by other teams.
One only has to be inhuman not
to feel the pain these Pre trial detainees feel. These Pre trial detainees are
Fathers, Mothers and Children in their respective families. Some of them are
Bread winners and have relatives back at home who go through heartache and
anxiety in their absence.
The Interview with the Pre
trial detainees is long over but my feeling of empathy towards the Pre trial
detainees is not. My perspective about law and it's application is changed.
I am an LLB 4 student of the Faculty of Law,
University of Abuja. I have been taught different aspects of the law in theory.
However, in the course of the Pre trial detainee project, I am faced with the
harsh reality of the fact that a number of our laws are more theoretical than
practical. I realize that a lot of what we have in black and white as our laws
are many at times flaunted. Section 6 (c) of the ACJA 2015 provides that the
authority having custody of the suspect shall have the responsibility of
notifying the next of kin or relative of the suspect of the arrest at no cost
to the suspect. However, the Nigerian Police Force and Prisons Service seem not
to be aware of such provision as several Pre trial detainees spend months in
Prison without any of their relatives being aware of their arrest,
notwithstanding the fact that by law, the above mentioned authorities have a
responsibility to inform relatives of the arrest of suspects. In my humble
opinion, this does not in any way speak well of our Criminal Justice System. I
believe it would help a great deal if Stakeholders in the Nigerian Criminal
Justice System are properly sensitized about the provisions of our criminal law
and more discipline enforced to maintain due diligence on their part.
Despite the underlying issues
of lack of information to relatives of arrested suspects, over conjestion,
torture, starvation amongst others noticed during the Pre trial detainee
project, I must admit that the entire project indeed is worthwhile.
The skills, values and
memories I have gotten from this project would definitely remain with me
forever.
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