Oyewole Bukola from Uniabuja Law Clinic: Self Reflection

My name is Oyewole Bukola and I'm a 500 level clinician from the University of Abuja Law Clinic. During the 2018 NULAI/OSIWA Pretrial Detention Project my team members and I visited Suleja prison and we were able to interview six detainees. When we concluded the interviews, we realized we had witnessed different shades of human behavior and we were glad that we were able to relate with the pretrial detainees using our interviewing, empathic skills and values.

Some detainees were fabricating, we had to keep digging for information before they later spilled the truth and we had to reassure them several times that we were not there to judge them but to help. Some detainees were genuinely sorry while others were victims of circumstances. One in particular who happened to be a lady was unrepentant boastful and proud and she had involved herself in crime which she wasn't remorseful about. We found a way to calm her down and make her realize the severity of her case.

I learnt the usefulness of core values and the experience I had at the time boosted my empathy and also increased my ability to tolerate and understand a person.

Some of the inmates did not have access to communicate to their lawyers or loved ones and some that were on conditional bail could not access the requisite IPO form.

Visiting the prison made me value the importance of freedom and personal space.

The things I observed made me feel remorseful and at a point I cried and it gave me a reason to be a public interest lawyer.