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肯尼亚兰加塔女子监狱犯人学习法律

At a women's prison in Nairobi, Kenyan inmates² are taking the law into their own hands. Law classes have helped inmates launch their own appeals and defend themselves in court.

在肯尼亚的内罗毕女子监狱，犯人们在学习法律。这些法律课程帮助犯人为自己上诉并在法庭上捍卫自己的权利。

In a classroom behind bars, three inmates and a prison officer learn the basics of common law.

在这个铁窗内的课堂里，三名犯人和一名狱警在学习习惯法的基础知识。

Inmate¹ Rose Musyoki said these classes have given her the chance of a lifetime.

犯人罗斯·穆羽琪说，这些课程对她是一次难得的机会。

“It has been my childhood dream to do law, but due to some unavoidable circumstances like lack of finance, I've not been able to do it," said Musyoki. "So when this chance came in I gave it a trial, and now I'm in it, I'm doing it.”

她说：“我小时候的梦想就是做法律工作，但因为一些不可避免的原因比如资金不足，我就没有做。所以现在有这个机会，我就想试一试，现在我真的在做了。”

Applied³ learning

And already, she's put her lessons into practice, successfully helping⁴ another inmate to appeal a sentence for kidnapping by arguing that the accused was under duress⁵ at the time.

她已经把课堂上学到的知识付诸实践了。她成功的帮助另一名狱友就绑架的判决提出上诉，理由是这名犯人当时是被迫认罪的。

“When she went there, the prosecution⁶ had nothing against her. They never even said anything, when she raised just that defense⁷, the prosecution was asked, 'Do you have anything against her?' He said, 'No, your honor.' That was a big achievement,” said Musyoki.

她说：“她出庭的时候，检方没有证据可以起诉她。他们甚至什么都没说。当她开始为自己辩护的时候，法官问检方：‘你有证据可以起诉她吗？’他说，‘没有，法官大人’。这是一个非常大的成功。”

Langata Women's Prison holds about 600 inmates, serving sentences ranging from a few days to life behind bars. Some are awaiting trial; others have exhausted⁸ their appeals.

兰加塔女子监狱关押着约600名犯人，她们的刑罚从几天到终身监禁都有。一些人在候审中，另一些上诉失败。

Accustomed to being on the wrong side of the law, the prisoners get a new perspective through the education program.

通过这个课程，惯于违法的犯人们对事物有了新的认识。

Jane Ouma, for example, is serving a 14-year sentence for assaulting her husband's mistress.

比如简·欧曼，她由于袭击她丈夫的情妇被判14年监禁。

She said if she knew then what she knows now, she could have done better than her own lawyer.

她说，如果她那时候像现在这样懂法，她可能会比她的律师做的更好。

“I would have been in a much better position than when I got my lawyer -- he didn't turn up in court, he gave me a student lawyer who was just practicing law, and I feel I did not get the right representation,” Ouma said.

 “以后如果为自己辩护，会比当时分配给我的律师做得更好。他没有在法庭上露面，而是派出一名实习的学生律师，我感觉我并没有得到适当的辩护。”欧曼说。

The program is the work of a non-profit group called the African Prisons Project. Students work toward a two-year diploma in common law from the University of London.

这个项目是一家名为“非洲监狱项目”的非营利组织设立的。学生学成后可以获得伦敦大学习惯法专业的两年学位证书。

Jailhouse advocates

Then, when good legal advice is hard to come by, these jailhouse advocates can step in.

那么，当难以获得好的法律建议时，这些监狱中的专业人员就会介入。

Sam Bryar, a consultant⁹ with the project, said, “They're not quite at the level where they're equivalent to a lawyer, but they're always going to be available and they're always going to be able to provide that kind of support. We think the impact at the end of the day is going to be substantially larger than if we took the funds that we have and put them into just bringing a lawyer in one day a week.”

山姆·比亚尔是这个项目的顾问。他说：“他们的水平不比律师，但是他们随时待命提供帮助。我们认为一天下来，这种影响是巨大的，比我们花钱聘请一名律师每周来一天要好。”

Only a handful of inmates gain acceptance into the prison's education programs. Most spend their days in workshops. In one of them, for instance, inmates make handicrafts to be sold at the prison welfare office.

只有一小部分犯人可以接受监狱的教育培训。大部分人在这种车间干活，制作手工制品再卖到监狱福利办公室。

Some work in the kitchen to feed other inmates and staff. Corrections officers here say teaching these kinds of skills gives inmates something to do when they get out.

或者在厨房工作，为其他狱友和工作人员做饭。教官说，教犯人学习这些技能可以使她们在出狱后有事做。

Education officer Jacqueline Onyango said learning the law also can keep people out of prison altogether.

教育官员杰奎琳·奥延戈说，学习法律可以帮助人们不再入狱。

“When people are more equipped with knowledge, there will be less people committing offenses¹⁰, because most of them commit these offenses out of ignorance, and a more knowledgeable¹¹ society is easier to deal with,” she said.

她说：“当人们具备更多知识的时候，冒犯别人的人就少了。因为大部分人冒犯别人是出于无知，知识水平更高的社会更易于管理。”

Many prisoners here say they are disillusioned¹² with the Kenyan courts; but, as law students they have a chance to prove that a person is not powerless to challenge the system, just because she is behind bars.

这里的一些犯人说，她们对肯尼亚法庭的幻想破灭了。但是，作为学习法律的学生，她们有机会证明，一个人不会因为身在狱中就没有能力挑战司法系统。