WHY PAN EXISTS
Stakeholders discuss the paralegal Aid Policy The overwhelming majority of Zambia's population does not have access to legal aid and also cannot access the services of the relevant justice institutions of the state. The justice gap has been created by an inadequate number of lawyers as Zambia currently has 850 [1] lawyers registered with the Law Association of Zambia to service a population of about 15 million. This situation has caused backlog of both civil and criminal cases in court. In the face of inadequate numbers of lawyers, paralegals have emerged to fill the gap. Legal education and information is not provided in a structured way to the communities and legal advice and assistance in police stations and prisons is largely absent. Many suspects and prisoners are detained for lengthy periods of time and in inhumane conditions in overcrowded police cells and prisons. Zambia currently has a prison capacity of 8,500 but it has a prison population of more than 19,000 p