Headfort Foundation has over the years taken up the briefs and fully represented inmates in Nigerian prisons free of charge because of their economic status. 90% of the inmates represented by us are so poor that they couldn’t even afford lawyers at the point of arraignment while the other 10% had lawyers at the initial stages of proceedings but before trial could even start, they run out of money and result to fate. Statistics has shown that Nigerian Prisons are congested by 250% and 70% of inmates in Nigerian prisons are inmates awaiting trial and not convicts whom the prisons are originally meant for. Of the 70% awaiting trial, 50% have been granted bail but could not perfect their bail conditions due to their economic status. Also, majority of them are charged for minor offences with six-month imprisonment but unfortunately, they spend years in prison due to the cumbersome judicial processes.

The court had done its best by granting them bail so no court will take responsibility for such persons even if they spend five years in custody before the court finds them innocent of the offence. Even if found guilty, most of the inmates would have spent thrice the sentence for such offences and this is traumatic for most of them while some even lose their lives in custody before the determination of their cases. We at Headfort Foundation decided to bring an end to this injustice meted on them by fate and the Nigerian Criminal Justice System by initiating this project.

The “Bail the Indigent” project is one that focuses on perfection of the bail conditions of inmates in Nigerian prisons. We do this by soliciting for funds both online and offline for 20 inmates per month and the average sum for the bail of one inmate is N60,000 (Sixty Thousand Naira)  

 Objectives:

·    To give hope to the indigent inmates who have given up on themselves and on the justice system of this country.

·  To secure the freedom of the inmates and give them opportunity of reuniting with their family and also continue their day to day activities.

·        To decongest the Nigerian prison and reduce the number of awaiting trial inmates to enable the prison officials concentrate on the convicts and do a meaningful rehabilitation on the mindset of the convicts.

·    To prevent the possibilities of inmates charged with minor offences being prone to negative influence from hardened criminals due to the unnecessary stay in custody.