Primary Contact Name
Describe your project
In Nigeria many innocent criminal suspects are arrested and charged to court and remanded in prison, most times without knowledge of their lawyers and family members The Court Journalist Information communication Scheme proposed under this project will seek to utilize the use of mobile telephone lines, e-mail services and network of journalist covering events in our courts to offer efficient, and easily accessible, early intervention communication support to indigent criminal defendants by linking them up with legal aid lawyers and their family members on being charged to court and before they are remanded in prison for early legal intervention. I will under the scheme mobilize volunteer and other free lance journalists, who will be provided with mobile telephone handsets with a full complement of e-mail services. These journalists will visit the courts on a daily basis. While in court the attention of the journalists will be drawn to the suspect early enough and information about his family members will be taken from him. The duty journalist will then make a call to legal aid lawyers or family members or send e-mails or SMS,to ensure quick legal intervention and prevent the suspect from being sent unnecessarily to prison on remand custody This will help check the rate at which suspects who are not supposed to be remanded are sent to prison. The scheme will focus on quick information communication/legal intervention which will prevent suspects being sent to prison thereby decongesting the prisons and reducing the death rate in our prisons. The project objectives are as follows: 1. To put in place a sustainable information communication/legal assistance scheme, in particular using Journalists and ICT to promote early legal intervention on behalf of indigent criminal suspects. 2.to build capacity and awareness among journalists on communication/legal support for their immediate communities especially for the indigent ones 3. to improve access to justice for poor criminal defendants
Organization or Business Name
Who would want to use it and why?
Court Journalists will use the scheme for the benefit of indigent criminal defendants and their families in Nigeria. The need for the project is to help indigent criminal suspects establish quick contact with legal aid lawyers or family members, for prompt legal intervention. This is because the problem for criminal suspects who are charged to court and taken to prison on long remand custody is the lack of access to their lawyers or family members on being charged to court, due to lack of information, communication. From my experience, where a suspect is able to establish quick contacts with a family member or a lawyer, the lawyer will appear promptly in court and canvass arguments while the suspect should not be taken to prison without a formal charge, or have his family take him or her on bail
Why are you the best person or organization to develop this project?
I am the best person to develop this project because I have worked since my graduation from law school as a legal aid lawyer, with two different human rights organisation. My work centre mainly on developing and managing projects on legal aid, as well as offering free legal services to indigent victims of human rights violation and awaiting trial prisoners. From experience I have come to appreciate that indigent criminal defendants without quick access to their families or lawyers due to lack of communication end up in prison and may remain there for decades without trial, most times without the knowledge of their family members who sometimes give up hope that there are alive. I have over the years garnered a lot of experience in the course of designing projects on legal aid and represnting indigent criminal defendants. The expereince I have gained over the years puts me in the best postion to implement this project. Please take note I have submitted this project a few minutes ago. I am re-sending it because of the error I detected in the amount requested. I wrote 350 instead of the sum of 350000 which I am requesting for the project. I regret the error.
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What potentially bigger thing might happen if everything went perfectly and the stars all aligned?
If everything went perfectly as envisaged, my initiative will bring about: (i). A drastic reduction in the number of indigent criminal suspects being sent to prison to await trials for years on frivolous charges. This will result in about 60 percent reduction in prison population among remand inmates, thereby reducing congestions, deaths and diseases in the prisons. It will also alleviate the conditions of overcrowding for those continuing in detention (ii) My project will also for the first time in Nigeria result in the creation of a quick intervention legal aid scheme dependent on the use of Information Communication Technology. This will lead to the institutionalisation and development of a model quick intervention legal aid scheme that other NGOS and Civil Society Organisations working on legal aid can replicate. In essence my project will provide pilot resources and expertise for any other organisation or legal aid scheme adopting my model (iii) It will bring about a strategic shift in legal aid delivery by NGOS and other legal aid bodies in Nigeria from offering legal assistance on adhoc basis to indigent criminal defendants who have spent years in prison awaiting trial, to a more sustainable quick intervention legal aid scheme which will prevent innocent criminal suspects from being unnecessarily sent to prison, thereby attacking the root cause of prison congestion in Nigeria. (iv) It will bring about a quick system of transmitting news and information between indigent criminal suspects, legal aid lawyers and their families and defeat the police practice of first charging criminal suspects to court and ensuring that they are kept in prison custody without the knowledge of their lawyers and family members while they gather evidence to prosecute them. (v) My project will also contribute to my organisation's broader advocacy programme aimed at establishing a sustainable, effective and accessible legal aid scheme to improve legal aid delivery throughout Nigeria.
How will you be able to measure whether or not your project has really made a difference?
I will measure whether or not my project has made a difference through the following indicators (i) Through interviews and questionnaires to be administered on prison officals, as well as through prison records of number of persons admitted into awaiting trial prison custody during project period in comparison with numbers admitted in the years prior to the take0off of the project (ii) Through interviews and questionnaire to be adminidtered on court officials as well as through Court Records of number of criminal defendants either released or granted bail through the efforts of the Court Duty Journalists and lawyers working under the scheme, as against records of those sent to prison in previous years before the scheme (iii) Through prison records of number of deaths and diseases as a result of prison congestion recorded in previous years in comparism with the number during the project period (iv) Through records of project staff on the number of persons released by them during the project period (v) Through number of other legal aid organisations making positive comments on my initiaitve and seeking to adopt my strategy.
Web site
Requested amount from Knight News Challenge
What unmet need does your proposal answer?
In Nigeria, the absence of a quick information communication legal aid intervention strategy that transmits quick news and information on arrested criminal suspects results in many innocent criminal suspects being sent to prison to await trial for years on frivolous charges.This is usually so because criminal suspects arrested by the Police are charged to court by the Police without bothering to inform their family members or lawyers. The courts in turn simply remand these suspects in prison custody to await trial, where they have no family member to take them on bail, or legal aid lawyers to address their case. The reason therefore why many indigent criminal suspects are languising in awaiting trial prison custody and prison congestion in Nigeria is due to the absence of a quick information and communication legal aid intervention strategy linking suspects with their families and lawyers on been charged to court by the police. NGOs and CSOs working on prisons and providing legal aid to the indigent have continued to offer legal support to awaiting trial prisoners to release them from prison based on their assumption that, that is a practical way of addressing the problem of prison congestion. Unfortunately as one prisoner is released by these groups, 5 more are brought in. A clear indication that this strategy does not answer or meet the need of criminal suspects or answer the problem of prison congestion. Again some volunteer lawyers and journalists working on legal assistance in our courts with willingness to assist through volunteer legal support in most cases do not know how to do so or find a platform for doing so. My proposal will answer the unmet needs of criminal suspects,their families and the legal aid community in Nigeria by creating a platform using lawyers and journalists who will use ICT for quick information communication legal aid support by linking suspects up with their familes and legal aid lawyers with a view to stopping them from being unnecessarily sent to prison thereby decongesting the prisons
Total cost of project, including all sources of funding
What specific, unique opportunity do you see that will make this project more successful than others trying to fill that general
The unique opportunity that I see that will make this project more successful than others trying to fill that general need is the use of information communication technology, including telephones, computers and e-mails) to provide quick communication and to quickly transmit news and information on persons arrested by the police. This opportunity has not been tapped in the past. Another significant unique opportunity that I see that will make this project more successful than others is the fact that the project will draw on the good will and enthusiasm of the legal aid community to mobilise lawyers and journalists into the scheme. This is because there is apparently a common concern in the legal aid community and the press about prison congestion occassioning deaths of inmates and the unfair manner innocent criminal suspects are charged to court by the Police without the knowledge of their lawyers or family members. My initiaitive in this regard will be widely welcomed as a long awaited challenge (opportunity) for the law and legal aid community to solve the aforementioned problems
Expected amount of time to complete project (in whole years):
How will people learn about what you are doing?
People will learn about what I am doing through report of my project activities in the electronic and print media. Interestingly volunteer journalists that will work under the scheme are affiliated with some media houses in the state and will help to publicise the work being carried out under the project. Also report of the project will be published in my organisation's print and on line newsletter which will be distributed to non governmental human rights organisations (NGOS), Civil Society Organisations (CSOS) and other stakeholders with whom we collaborate with. Lawyers and Journalists working under the scheme will submit periodic reports of their activities to the project coordinator, who will in turn issue periodic reports to members of the organisation and Knight Foundation. We also expect family members of released criminal suspects to inform others of our work.
Do you have any other funding or investment? We’re interested in knowing who else is interested in your project.
I do not have any financial funding in respect of this project. However volunteer lawyers and journalists working under the scheme will make in kind contribution to the project. This will be by way of committing professional time to the project (Pro bono Services)
Are you working with anyone else to complete this project? If so, please give names and what they would do?
Yes I will be working with some legal aid lawyers, volunteers, journalists and other social workers to complete the project. Those to be mobilised for the project are as follows 1. Comrade John Odion: He heads a non governmental, non profit human rights organisation specialising in offering legal services to indigent victims of human rights violation and awaiting trial prisoners. His duty under the scheme will include receiving calls, text messages and e-mails from Court Duty Journalists and Volunteers and mobilsing legal aid lawyers in his office to immediately attend court for quick legal aid intervention for indigent criminal suspects. 2. Barrister Nwabueze Ezeah: He is also a lawyer and heads a human rights NGO working on legal aid and prison reforms. He will also receive calls and messages from Court Duty Journalists and Volunteers and mobilise lawyers to the court to defend criminal suspects. 3. Barrister Paul Osarenkhoe: He heads a human rights organisation working on justice sector and prison reforms . He will also receive calls, e-mails and text messages from Court Volunteers and mobilise lawyers to court to defend suspects. 4. Ms. Evelyn Ejimofe: She is a legal aid volunteer working with our organisation; She works basically on collecting data on awaiting trial prison inmates requring legal aid. She will also work on collation of data base information on criminal suspects brought to court by the Police 5. Ms. Chioma Ohakelem: She will also work with the Court and Prison Officals in tracking number of criminal suspects benefiting from legal aid. 6. Mr. Slyvester Asoya. Mr. Asoya is a senior journalist with P.M News. He heads Court Journalists covering events in all the courts in Lagos. He will work with other court journalists mainly in identifying indigent criminal suspects brought to court by the Police, interview them to receive information on their alleged offences and families and transmit those information to lawyers and family members for prompt response 7. Olajide Tokunbo, same as Slvester above and many others
Who else is working in this area? How does your work fit into the larger context of work in this area?
Some existing NGOS and and Civil Rights Groups advocate for prison reforms and decongestion and also offer legal assistance on adhoc basis to awaiting trial prisoners identified by them, with a view to releasing them from long prison detention. The general focus of these groups is to release awaiting trial inmates as a way of decongesting the prisons. Many prisoners have been released no doubt through the effort of these groups. I have also been involved in employing this legal aid strategy in releasing detained prisoners (See attached documents). However from experience, most of these efforts are not strategised, specialised and sustainable and have also failed to address the root cause of prison congestion, because as one prisoner is released by these organisation, many more go in. My work fit into the larger context of work in this area in that its goal is also to offer legal assitance to indigent criminal defendants as a way of reducing prison congestion. However under my project quick attention of the volunteer journalists and social workers will be drawn to criminal defendants who will in turn establish quick communication contacts with legal aid lawyers and transmit information to them to enable them quickly respond and offer quick legal intervention to the suspects as a way of preventing innocent and indigent criminal defendants from being unnecessarily being sent to prison on long remand custody. This will help to check the rate at which suspects who are not supposed to be remanded are sent to prison. My project will therefore focus on preventing innocent criminal suspects from being sent to prison to complement existing efforts of groups that work to get criminal defendants out of prison.
What do you guarantee will happen if you complete the activities in this proposal?
I guarantee that if I complete activities under this proposal, there will: i. be a drastic reduction in prison congestion and associated deaths and diseases by up to 60 percent. (ii)I also guarantee that there will be increased capacity and awareness among lawyers and the legal aid community on quick legal intervention strategy in support of indigent criminal suspects using information communication technology. (iii). I also strongly feels that there will be a reduction in the number of innocent criminal defendants being sent to prison on long term reman prison custody. (iv) I also gurantee that there will be an advancement in the area of legal aid delivery, through the institutionalisation and development of a model ICT supported quick communication and intervention legal aid scheme in Lagos Nigeria and its replication in other parts of Nigeria (v). Increased number of lawyers and journalist trained in the use of ICT for efficient legal aid support to their communities.