Want to collaborate or support access to justice?
Contact UsWant to collaborate or support access to justice?
Contact Us
Read this story on Esheria.
Introduction
Yesterday, we visited the Nairobi West Medium Prison. It was not just a courtesy visit for us, rather, it was a moment of truth. Walking through the facility, speaking to detainees, officers, and support staff, we were confronted with the real human face of Kenya’s criminal justice crisis. What we saw reaffirmed our mission; to democratize legal information for all.
The Kenyan criminal justice system continues to struggle with a heavy burden of pre-trial detention. As of 2022, the World Prison Population List indicated that Kenya has one of the highest incarceration rate in East Africa. That is not all, the Second Status Report on the Administration of Justice in Kenya of 2022 found that one in five Kenyan adults spends time in police custody. The worst of all is that Kenyan prisons operate at about 161 percent of their official capacity. These figures are not just statistics; they translate into overcrowded cells, delayed hearings, lost files, and people who do not understand why they are still in custody.
At the facility, we met men and women whose cases had stalled for months simply because they did not know what was happening in court. Some could not remember their next court date. Others had never seen their charge sheet explained in a language they could understand. Many had no lawyer and relied entirely on overworked paralegals, legal aid clinics, or occasional there assigned probono lawyers whom they met and talked only when presented in court and this does not last more than 20 minutes.
While acknowledging the initiatives taken by the state and other stakeholders leading programs such as Programme for Legal Empowerment and Aid Delivery (PLEAD), funded by the European Union, have strengthened legal aid across the country. We observed that the reach of such initiatives is uneven. In many prison and remand facilities, legal support is still stretched too thin, and without sustainable, technology-driven systems, the same problems repeat themselves.
This is the gap Lexchat seeks to fill.
At the prison, it was clear that the paralegals are stretched far beyond their limits. Many of them are also prison warders. At Nairobi West, for example, there are about 650 inmates but only eight paralegals. Four are warders and four are inmates. That means a few people are trying to help hundreds. One paralegal may be handling dozens of cases at once. They work with messy files handwritten notes, loose papers, and court documents that are hard to follow. They work in dingy loud crowded rooms where it is hard to focus. In a place like that, mistakes are easy: a missed court date, the wrong charge, a witness forgotten.
The people who suffer most are the detainees. Many don’t even know what they are accused of. They don’t know their rights. They don’t know if they can get bail or what sentence they might face. Some are fined as little as KES 2,000 and still cannot raise the money, so they stay in prison. We met young people, very poor people, those who cannot read well, and those with mental or emotional problems. These are the people who suffer most in this system. Without clear help, they are confused, scared, and easy to mislead. Some are pushed to plead guilty just to get it over with. Others wait for months without knowing what is happening in their own case. Walking through those corridors, one thing was clear: justice is not just about courts and laws. It is about people getting clear information, help when they need it,
LexChat is a legal support tool created by eSheria, a Kenyan legal technology platform. It uses artificial intelligence to make the law easier to understand and easier to work with. LexChat is not a lawyer and does not replace lawyers or paralegals. Esheria’s LexChat is an AI-powered legal assistant that simplifies Kenyan law. It offers fast legal research, access to statutes and case law, and clear answers in plain language. Users can draft and analyze legal documents, upload files for insights, and prepare for court processes. LexChat includes voice recognition and transcription, helping users speak instead of type. It also supports local languages, reducing language barriers for convicts and remandees not fluent in English or Kiswahili. Its role is to support them by saving time, reducing confusion, and helping them serve more inmates better.
In prisons and remand facilities, paralegals are often overwhelmed. They handle many cases at once, with limited space, time, and resources. LexChat helps by quickly summarizing police files, charge sheets, and witness statements, and by pointing out the key legal issues in each case. This allows paralegals to work faster, make fewer mistakes, and focus more on helping people rather than fighting paperwork.
For many accused persons, the biggest problem is not just the case, rather it is not understanding what is happening. Many do not know what they are charged with, whether they can get bail, or what sentence they might face. LexChat, will assist both the paralegals and the remandees by explaiing offences in plain language and in the languages they understand including foreigners, show whether a case is bailable, and outline possible outcomes like fines, probation, or prison sentence. We hold that when people understand their situation, they feel less afraid and more in control.
Bail is often the line between freedom and long, unnecessary detention. LexChat supports paralegals in preparing bail arguments, pointing to the right constitutional rights and past cases, and drafting simple bail applications. It also helps with plea decisions by comparing the results of pleading guilty or not guilty, and by preparing mitigation notes for sentencing. This protects accused persons from being rushed into unfair or uninformed decisions.
Legal research is another heavy burden. Instead of searching through many books or slow internet, paralegals and remandees can ask LexChat about laws, defences, and court procedures and get clear answers quickly. This makes even junior paralegals more confident and improves the quality of legal help across the facility.
To make this work in real life, we also provide the tools. We provide laptops to paralegals and desktops to inmates and remandees under the custody of the institution. We install LexChat accounts on these devices for free, so they are ready to use from day one.
It is important to note we have taken all measures to ensure compliance of Data Protection Act and all security requirement by the institution. The inmates will have a maximum of 10 minutes each on the platform under full supervision of the paralegal. Also the desktop will have firewalls to prevent abuse of the initiative. By combining technology with basic equipment, we turn access to justice from an idea into something people can actually use.
As we left Nairobi West Medium Prison, one thing stayed with us: behind every file number is a human being. A father, a son, a brother;someone waiting for clarity, fairness, and a chance to be heard. LexChat was not born in a boardroom. It was born from the reality of overcrowded cells, confused detainees, and overworked paralegals. Our visit reminded us that technology must serve people, especially the most vulnerable. If even one person gets bail faster, understands their case better, or avoids an unjust plea because of LexChat, then the journey is worth it. We look forward to partnering with stakeholders in the sector including paralegals, The Judiciary, Kenya prisons, the National Legal Aid Program and any other. We remain committed to one simple idea: Justice should not be delayed because of lack of information.
