Pepperdine University’s SGJI partners LAC to provide legal aid to remand prisoners in Nsawam
The activity which took place at the Nsawam prison sought to review cases, conduct interviews with remand and convicted prisoners
Pepperdine University, in collaboration with Legal Aid Commission’s (LAC) Public Defender Division and the Paralegal Unit of the Ghana Prisons Service, have organized a plea-bargaining clinic for the remand prisoners at the Nsawam male prison.
The team from Pepperdine University was led by the Director for West Africa for the Sudreau Global Justice Institute (SGJI), Professor Alan Collier.
The activity took place at the Nsawam prison on Friday 9 June 2023 and it sought to review cases, conduct interviews with some selected remand prisoners to enable lawyers evaluate cases for the possibility to negotiate a plea deal with the prosecution on their behalf or to recommend that the cases be dismissed due to lack of evidence. The project is meant to assist inmates who are unable to afford the services of a lawyer so as to have access to justice.
In an interview with Asaase news, Professor Collier noted that the main reason for many inmates being unjustly incarcerated is their inability to have legal representation. The Sudreau Global Justice Institute’s objective is therefore to assist the new Public Defender Division of the Legal Aid Commission to provide legal services to disadvantaged inmates in the prisons in Ghana.
“We have to find out from these people if they have a lawyer which usually, they do not have. In some cases, even if they initially have a lawyer, their families may have paid up to GHc 5,000.00 in an attempt to get bail, but once that money spent, the lawyer, they abandon the suspects leaving them to face trial on their own.
“People will work on your bail but then they are gone. So, we want to know if they want to go through Legal Aid and then we open those files and we get moving” Professor Collier said.
“Pepperdine University’s Global Justice Institute has some funding to help support Legal Aid in these cases. We are here to help to get records, help with categorization of cases and my students are here to do research to support the defense. We just want to support in any way we can to get these cases moving” he added.
Extension of programme
In a brief address, the Eastern Regional Commander of the Ghana Prisons Service, Deputy Director of Prisons (DDP), Kweku Ababio Ali urged Pepperdine University to extend the program to other major prisons across the country.
“What you have started should not be the end. [You should] replicate this programme in the major prisons across the country so that the unfortunate ones can also benefit. There are other facilities who also need this kind of attention” Kweku Ababio Ali said. Professor Collier has informed Asaase that Pepperdine has every intention of expanding this programme with Tamale Prison being the next target.
Congestion challenges
A Senior member in charge of the Paralegal Unit of the Nsawam medium security prison, Supt. Christiana Dabuo-Williams in an interview with Asaase news said the program will help address congestion and overcrowding challenges in the prison as well as reduce the high number of inmates on remand in prison custody.
“Ghana Prison service is supposed to be keeping only convicted prisoners, however, due to the lack of facilities in our country’s justice system, remand prisons are also part of our work and if the team is able to release all of them, we will be very grateful” Supt. Christiana Dabuo-Williams said.
Call for support
A public defender at the Legal Aid Commission, Rita Ali on her part urged other benevolent organizations to support the commission in any form to help execute their core mandate of giving accessible legal service to persons who cannot afford it.
“Anybody who wants to help should come on board to assist us in any form. If you can give us printers, if you can give us cash, we will take them. If you can give us even papers to print or however you can help us, we will be glad and we will take it because it is going to assist the work that we do” she said.
The team / Donation
The plea-bargaining clinic was conducted by officials from the Public Defenders Department of the Legal Aid Commission, officials from the Paralegal unit at the Nsawam Medium Security, lawyers and law students from Pepperdine University as well as some students from the faculty of Law of the University of Professional Studies, Ghana.
Overall, 44 cases were heard and given attention by the officials who participated in the exercise. As part of the engagement on Friday 9 June 2023, the Director for West Africa for Sudreau Global Justice Institute Professor Collier donated two live cows and other food stuffs to inmates in the Nsawam male prison as a thank you to all prisoners.
Reporting by Andy Seppah in Accra
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