Constitutional Rights Projects

Chief Ojo Madueke's recent statement on the refusal of Nigerian prisoners abroad to return home and complete their prison terms speaks volumes of the decay that has crept into our prisons. Successive governments have made perfunctory attempts at reforming the system with little or no result to show for it. Indeed, several panels have been set up in the last decade to examine the state of our prisons with a view to recommending reform measures. However, panel reports end up in government archives soon after they are presented to the appropriate officers.

The problems besetting the prisons are legion and well-documented. Prisoners' rights are routinely violated with impunity. As a matter of fact, many reading this paper will chastise one for using the word 'rights' in relation to prisoners. They might argue that 'criminals' do not have rights. This is most unfortunate!

Rights inure by virtue of conception. In appropriate cases, they could be denied but never lost. To argue that prisoners have no rights presupposes that all prisoners are convicts. This again is incorrect as awaiting trial persons constitute a reasonable proportion of prison population nationwide. Indeed, even convicts have rights. The court in PETER NEMI v THE STATE alluded to this fact when it observed that persons who have been sentenced to death are entitled to have their sentences enforced in a humane manner.

The awaiting trial problem is one which seems to have defied solutions. In the last decade, awaiting trial populations have remained fairly constant, averaging at 63%. This is in spite of properly conceived and effectively implemented prison decongestion projects undertaken by many human rights NGOs and government institutions. Perhaps, it is time to find answers to what is responsible for this state of affairs.

This writer thinks that the volume of activities directed at checking people out of the prison system is not matched by the effort at checking how people get into the system. Consequently, it is possible to release 10 persons from the prisons and admit 20 more over the same period. There is therefore an urgent need to interrogate the criminal justice system to ascertain who and what is responsible for the uncontrolled influx of inmates into our prisons.

A check with any police station reveals that arrests are made fairly regularly. There is not, as yet, any system-wide mechanism for ensuring that these people are either granted bail or arraigned before appropriate courts within the time stipulated by law. Often times, you find suspects arrested on charges as frivolous as wandering (this was an offence recognized under Section 10 of the old Lagos Criminal Procedure Law), kept overnight in police detention facilities and subsequently arraigned before Magistrate courts on charges such as murder. Magistrate courts do not have jurisdiction over capital offences, including murder but under Section 236(3) of Lagos' Criminal Procedure Law (as with other states criminal procedure laws), they have jurisdiction to remand. Therefore, this category of suspects is detained in prison facilities for extended periods. One is elated that Lagos has amended the relevant provisions to introduce some accountability. First, Magistrates may now make preliminary enquiries on particulars of offence etc. Then, they are empowered to demand explanations if suspects are neither released nor arraigned before appropriate courts within a stipulated time. This is recommended to other states.

Critically, serious attention needs to be devoted to checking indiscriminate arrests and detention in police facilities across Nigeria. A few organizations have taken a useful first step by establishing the Police/Duty Solicitors Scheme. The scheme provides duty solicitors (youth corps lawyers) to selected police stations in a few pilot states. The lawyers ensure that persons arrested and taken to police detention facilities get prompt legal advice. This achieves one of many goals namely; it keeps police officers on their guard. The scheme is progressing steadily even if there are initial and sometimes intractable problems. It is an idea that reform minded institutions should embrace.

A key challenge to doing serious work in the prisons is personnel. There are not too many lawyers who are keen to take the thankless task of providing free legal services. Part of the problem is the orientation of our law schools which tend towards preparing students to deal with fee paying clients alone. It is therefore a welcome relief that a group of determined academics have invested time and resources to building a network of university based legal aid institutions. This network is pioneering Clinical Legal Education (CLE) across Nigeria.

CLE will teach skills in an interactive manner and more importantly, will bring budding lawyers in contact with the poor and powerless in society. University based law clinics in Maiduguri, Uyo, Ibadan, Uturu, Akungba-Akoko, Ekpoma and Abakaliki are already blazing the trail. Law students are taking active interest in the prisons in these clinics. Already the Abia State University Law Clinic has developed a prisons based student's project to provide legal aid and assistance to indigent inmates of prisons within their area of operation. NULAI Nigeria has also developed a system-wide Programme to involve law students in prison work.

The above initiatives and many more will achieve results only to the extent that key stakeholders cooperate and collaborate. Institutions and organizations responsible for every stage of the criminal process must take active interest in discussing practical and sustainable ideas for improving the system. Government must go beyond organizing talk shows; it must begin implementing technical reports already in its possession.

Prisons conditions will improve if we prioritize well. It is in our interest to do so. Prisons that do not reform and rehabilitate inmates create a community of vengeful people who, given the next opportunity, will terrorize society. It is cost effective to invest in the prisons than attempt to deal with self-imposed recidivism.

Stanley Ibe, Senior Programme Manager Constitutional Rights Project Abuja