For a whole of ten-year period since 2013, Mr Mateyu Charles Mwale, a homicide remandee at Maula Prison, has been awaiting judgment after the trial in 2013. Little did he know that his file went missing, and he was on remand with no hope of seeing his judgment after trial.

In the year 2023, PASI arranged a Camp Court for homicide reamndees in collaboration with Legal Aid Bureau. The initiative was funded by the Irish Rule of Law International. As PASI paralegals followed up the case of Mr. Mwale, PASI included Mr. Mwale on the list of a Homicide Camp Court. The Legal Aid Bureau lawyer represented Mr. Mwale when he appeared before a judge of the High Court on 8^th of March 2023.  The High Court released Mr. Mwale unconditionally. In the Picture, PASI Paralegal (in waist coat) congratulates Mr. Mwale on his unconditional release.

PASI has been organizing Camp Courts in prisons since early 2000. The aim is to address ineffectiveness of the justice system so that people access justice timely. For the period 2018 to 2022 with support from the European Union and UNDP, PASI has facilitated 416 Camp Courts which resulted in the release of 6,814 remandees from unlawful detention.

For the period January 2018 to July 2022, PASI implemented Access to Justice project with support from European Union and UNDP.  The PASI interventions in communities, police establishments, courts and prisons enhanced access to justice, and contributed to reduced congestion in places of custody especially for those charged with petty offences. This was evident as follows:

• firstly, Paralegals facilitated the release of 149,662 suspects and accused charged with petty cases from the places of detention;
• and secondly, 81,747 cases were resolved outside the formal justice system through village mediation in  communities.

These outputs contributed to the results realized in the formal justice institutions where the 2021 percentage caseload of petty cases went down to 34%,  lessened pressure as compared to the baseline value of 48% recorded in the year 2017. Furthermore, the 2021 percentage of prisoners serving a sentence of less than 3 years dropped to 28% , lessened pressure as compared to the baseline value of 42% recorded in the year 2017.

"The overall result is that, apart from the poor people being able to access justice, the formal justice institutions were also assisted through decongestion of places of detention as well as diversion of petty cases to the Village Mediators." -PASI National Director, Mr Clifford Msiska

In the year 2014, Mr Clifford Msiska, the Director for PASI, addressed the participants at the International Conference on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice System held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The presentation was and is still very insightful in light of ensuring timely access to criminal legal aid for suspects and accused in the formal justice system.