Hello, my name is Oladepo Tobiloba, a 300 level student of
the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin. Over the next few paragraphs I will
be taking you through my learning and reflections on the NULAI/OSIWA project
tilled ‘Facilitating access to justice for Prison Pre-trial Detainees
Being a participant in the
NULAI/OSIWA project has been an awesome experience for me, right from the
workshops to the advocacy visits, to the client’s interviews, to the court
proceedings. One of the experiences I cherish is the advocacy visit to the
office of the Attorney general of Kwara state, where I learnt about the state
of criminal justice system in Kwara, the conditions of the prisons and also the
activities of the convicts. Apart from the advocacy visit, another experience
that I cherish well is the monitoring of case proceedings in court; I was
opportune to monitor the proceedings of a case at the magistrate court. The
vast knowledge of law of the Magistrate cannot be overemphasized. For instance,
I learnt about the right open to an accused at the close of the prosecution
case and before the opening of his defence. I also learnt about the rules
relating to notice to produce amongst others.
As
regards my Learning, I have learnt a lot, most importantly in the area of
client interviewing, the clinic’s workshop helped improved my client
interviewing skills which was very instrumental to me in the course of
interviewing the pre-detainees in the prison. I interviewed a client who was
not being truthful to the questions asked, however thankful to my skills I was
able to extract the truth for him while of course ensuring the confidentiality.
Other things learnt include how to draft affidavits and bail applications
amongst other.
This
project has changed my perspectives as regards two things, the first being the
living conditions of prisoners, i had earlier thought these prisoners were
subjected to a very deplorable state of living, and this reason is not farfetched
due to the Nollywood films we watch. However, I got to understand that state of
living is not as deplorable as I had earlier thought. Another perspective
changed is in the area of litigation, I had earlier thought the delay in
criminal trials in solely due to the prosecution. However, from the case
monitored in court I discovered that the defence counsel at times is also
responsible for the delays in trial of an accused.
To my mind, I feel lot things can be improved
and they include;
·
Proper record of files: Prisons need to ensure adequate
keeping of records as it may be detrimental to the case of an accused where his
file is lost as a result of proper record. Thus mechanisms should be in placed
to ensure such proper records of files.
·
Interpreter: This was a major challenge during the course of
interviewing and also case proceedings as courts may sometime not sit because
of lack of interpreter.
·
Good conditions: although the conditions is not ‘TOO
DEPLORABLE’, efforts should
actually be taken to ensure it gets better.
·
Skills/education: Prisons should ensure the provisions of
skills acquisition and education to the prisoners as this would serve to
decrease crime rate in the society.
Other things I feel should
be improved on are security of the prisons and relocation of prisons from
residential areas, quick access to DPP’s advice when necessary.
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