Awall Printss
By Abbianca Makoni,
“What I experienced was real, I am real, they need to know,” said Precious, a victim of Nigeria’s criminal justice system, where the poor and marginalized are often jailed for years – sometimes decades – for minor crimes such as stealing bread. While the rich are protected, released, and able to relish.
She spoke over the phone on WhatsApp from an undisclosed location in Nigeria. We figured it would be best to avoid mentioning where she was based for the sake of her safety.
Much like many other countries in the African continent – it’s not unusual to have those found speaking against the government or law enforcement kidnapped, beaten, or even killed.
In a prison population of almost 70,000, more than 50,000 Nigerians are said to be awaiting trial with many having spent years on remand.
Spending longer awaiting trial than the maximum sentence for a crime violates the most basic legal protections guaranteed to Nigerian citizen but this is the reality for many.
Guilty or not guilty – dozens of inmates in prisons and pre-detention centres have long complained about the hygiene, medical supply, staff shortage taking place in prisons, and the effects on their mental health.
The pandemic has brought these conversations back into the limelight after reports that some prison centres had left inmates susceptible to the deadly coronavirus that has ravaged countries up and down the globe.
Pregnant, depressed, and locked up
“Prison was so tough, everywhere was dirty, there were rats everywhere and bed bugs. It was so dirty, it was not a place for someone to live. Even with some of the food, we were
given – I decided I would rather be hungry than to eat the food,” Precious said as she recalled her time in pre-trial detention back in 2016.
The mother of one was just 20-years-old and carrying her first child when she was accused by a family member of attempted kidnapping and entering the compound of a chief “forcefully armed with dangerous weapons.”
