My name is Nweke Ogadinma, a 400 level
clinician from the University of Abuja Law Clinic and I had the
wonderful opportunity of being able to visit the prison for the first time in
April. The open society initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and the network of
universities legal aid Institute (NULAI) did a great job by involving law
clinics in the expanding access to justice for pre-trial detainees project and
I was lucky to be a partaker of this juicy opportunity to extinguish the ills
that is going on in the prison service in Nigeria. Going through all the
trainings and workshops I thought I had it all and was finally ready to march
into the prison like a lioness. Right from the far distance, I saw the colours of the walls looking so
aggressive but I decided against the pounding in my chest and I told myself I
came here for an interview and if I do get arrested for any reason I had my
identity card with me. Almost
immediately, someone muttered ' ah these prisoners can beat someone and collect
the person's ID' then I swallowed hard and adjusted the ID in my hand wishing
things would not turn around and we end as the prisoners while the prisoners
ended up as the clinicians. My teammates did not even act like we were going
into a prison facility; Gbemisola was behaving like she had lived in prison all
her life but not until after the visit did she explain to us what was going on
in her head and how she tried to be in a calm mood to carry out the interview
smoothly. Mr Uzodike on the other hand was acting like if they just see his
face they would allow him into the courtyard to start the interview
immediately. Oh the prison officials' first contact with us and I thought these
people do not want us here, they actually acted like they did not know we were
coming.
After much wait for the officials to
finalize the protocol issues, we were finally allowed into the courtyard after
a search that felt like they were looking for our spirits. Then I came one on
one with the men whose world had been turned to numerous walls and gates that
had nothing close to a soon hope. As a little girl, I had always thought every
person that goes into a prison must have committed some sort of atrocious act
but I was marveled when my teammates and I interviewed an inmate who had no
idea why he was arrested. I felt so trapped by justice that I could not breathe
properly.
One of the major occurrences during the
interaction with the detainees was the ill treatment they were getting, there
was a song more common than the lyrical complain about lack of proper food and overpopulation and this
was the evil metted
out by the SARS officials.' I spent three
(3) months plus at the SARS and was beaten severely and severally at the SARS
office and was forced to admit to a crime I did not commit'. Then I ask
what happened to every person charged with criminal offense is presumed
innocent until proven guilty? Is there a courtroom we are not aware of at the
SARS office? And if there is, who is the presiding judge? Who represented the
prisoners? When our grundnorm has been violated and everyone is equal and in
worse cases above the rule of law, what will become of innocent creatures like
us who have no one to lift us above the law or even half way through it. So it
has become a normal practice for the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) to just
pick people up and keep them locked up for months and if they are not able to
pay for bail or most importantly bribe, they are thrown into prison for as long
as they wish. Many of these inmates have never seen the four walls of a
courtroom yet they are being bullied and treated like hardened criminals, worse
off their families are not aware of their whereabouts. In kuje prison, the
prisoners do not have adequate representation. One of the inmates testified to
this fact by alleging that he had been there for about seven (7)months and had
no legal representation although he had been told that he had a lawyer working
on his case, he had not seen any lawyer before. This is equally due to the
issue of poor case management system in the prison. I found it quite
preposterous that a person would be arrested and no charge is against him and
then he is forced to identify with some unknown persons and forced to accept
that he committed some certain crime with these Unknown individuals.
My participation in this project has
greatly influenced my thinking and perspective of the prison service in kuje
and in Nigeria generally. It is obvious that what we hear about the prisons is
nothing close to what we saw in the course of our visitation. The case is
worse, the prison is definitely not a place I would wish upon my worse enemy.
The prison visit equally influenced my behavior towards the inmates, I believe
they deserve some sort of better treatment unlike the harsh treatments they get
from the outside world because they are going through hell in there.
I learned a whole lot from this prison
visit one of which is the fact that my communication skills got sharpened and
well articulated. I also learned that Nigeria has a lot of work to do in
reforming our justice system and making the prisons what it is originally meant
to be - a rehabilitative and correctional facility and not a place for
extortion of the poor masses.
The
thing I observed made me feel quite upset and afraid as well as unsafe because
it could have been me or any of my relatives that is going through that
traumatic experience. If something is not done and done quickly it means no one
is safe in this country because our security is at risk. Anyone can be a
victim.
My
teammates and I, from left to right Samira, Gbemisola, Vera, Ogadinma, Vivian
and Uzodike, Vivian and Ogadinma (myself) Team justice champs. #Justice is free
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