Headforth Foundation has assisted 273 inmates to regain freedom through its pro bono services.
Mrs Oluyemi Orija, Executive Director of the foundation, made the disclosure at the organisation’s third anniversary celebration in Lagos on Tuesday.
“Today, we have helped 273 persons out of prisons for free, and we are currently handling more than 300 cases in different courts across Nigeria.
“We have a mobile office on a project called Lawyers Without Border, and we have an office at Ebute Meta in Lagos,” Orija said.
According to her, a stand of lawyers without borders has been placed in some designated court premises to offer free legal representation to indigent inmates.
Orija added that sometimes, Magistrates, registers and warders referred some cases to the organisation.
The executive director said that the foundation provided free and easy access to justice to iindigent inmates.
“It means we render free legal representation to them, a lot of them are poor people.
“Some are illiterates who do not even know what they are being charged for, nor understand the Nigerian justice space.
“We are pro bono lawyers, free lawyers, lawyers that provide free legal services, Orija said.
She said that the foundation’s “My Right, My Freedom campaign was aimed to educate members of the public on their rights and conduct before the law.
“We have realised that a lot of these people do not know what their rights are.
“Some people have signed statements at police stations which they did not write, and do not know the contents, they do not know anything about it.
“The law enforcement agents had probably written the statements for them and they just appended their signatures.
“In some cases in the court, some people plead guilty to offences that they did not commit, because a police officer advised them to do so.
She said that the foundation was taking the campaign to all local government areas in the country to educate Nigerians on their fundamental rights and also tell them the avenues to report infringement to their rights.
Orija said that funding and bureaucratic bottlenecks remained major challenges to the organisation’s assistance to indigent inmates to get freedom.
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Acccording to her, attitudes of some people also posed a hindrance.
“They think that because you are offering a free legal service, you must have money,’’ Orija said.
