Another Blow against Mass Incarceration

Details: Published on Monday, 18 February 2019 11:36; Written by editor

© Benedicte Kurzen/NOOR for the Open Society Foundations
In Nigeria, people who land in pretrial detention can often find themselves in a kind of legal black hole. Due to a combination of overcrowding, bureaucratic inefficiency, and neglect, even people who have been arrested for minor charges can end up spending years waiting for a chance to defend themselves in court. Sometimes, the time they spend waiting exceeds the maximum sentence they’d face upon conviction. But thanks to the work of civil society organizations in Nigeria, as well as a growing team of volunteers, more pretrial detainees are getting the legal counsel they deserve—and an initiative which is already getting results is poised to expand considerably.

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