Providing Access to Justice for 360 Women

In a survey conducted by AdvocAid in 2014, more than a third of the female inmates in Sierra Leone stated that they had never been to school, whilst 83% of them earned less than US$22 a month. This extreme mix of poverty and lack of education can be very toxic and contribute to women ending up in conflict with the law. AdvocAid provides literacy and numeracy classes for female inmates to break the cycle of illiteracy. Last week the new term started for the female inmates in Makeni.

Fridays and Saturdays are new school days in the women’s wing of the Makeni Correctional Centre, where 13 female inmates are currently learning how to read, write and do basic math. The women are divided into three classes based on their educational level – six in Stage 1, four in Stage 2 and three in Stage 4. The classes are taught by a teacher from EducAid Sierra Leone.

In a country where the mean years of schooling for women only is 2.2 compared to the slightly higher 4 years for men (see UNDP’s Human Development Index in 2015), even basic education can be a powerful tool to successful reintegration of female inmates.

Education programmes in prison have been proven to greatly impact the future prospects of detainees and their families and dramatically reduce recidivism among released inmates as they have greater chances of earning a living. Lack of meaningful activities during incarceration, on the other hand, is harmful for their mental health (WHO). AdvocAid’s literacy and numeracy classes in other words empower female inmates to cope with the stress of incarceration and help them become self-reliant upon release.

Book donation in to male inmates – AdvocAid works primarily with women and girls, but few people know that we are also running a prison library in Freetown’s male correctional centre on Pademba Road. In January, AdvocAid and Practical Tools Initiative delivered a generous book donation from Book Aid International to the inmates there.

Following the book donation, interest from inmates and corrections officers has increased dramatically, and 50 users are now accessing the library daily compared to less than 20 per day before. As one inmate said: “It has provided me solace in this confinement and this is why I am here in the morning as soon as we are released from the block.”

Help us continue to provide literacy classes across Sierra Leone – As we wrote in the last report on our anniversary project, we had to put the literacy and numeracy classes temporarily on hold in the last quarter of 2016 due to funding constraints. We are therefore thrilled to have resumed classes in Makeni, and soon we will be able to do the same in Freetown and Kenema. However, we still need support to ensure that the classes can continue throughout the year. Just $45 is enough to provide education for five women for a month, but any donation will make a difference. Thank you in advance for your support!

Links:

• Learn about our education and economic empowerment programme
• About our educational partner, EducAid Sierra Leone

While Sierra Leone’s political leaders are dealing with a ravaging financial crisis, and preparing for elections in 2018, its population is suffering from extreme increases in the prices of food, electricity, fuel, and water. In the aftermath of the deadliest ever Ebola outbreak, things are not looking up for Sierra Leone. Everyone feels the crisis, but women and girls are particularly affected.

Sierra Leone is one of the least developed countries in the world, ranking 181 out of 188 countries on UNDP’s Human Development Index in 2015. It also has one of the highest levels of gender inequality. On average, men earn 25% more than women do, and the mean years of schooling for women is only 2.2 compared to the slightly higher 4 years for men.

The current financial crisis is exacerbating the desperation felt by Sierra Leone’s poor population, especially the women who are family breadwinners. As we highlighted in the last report for our anniversary project, women are more likely to put themselves at risk by obtaining loans or doing less reputable business dealings, when they have the responsibility for the health and education of their children.

Saliatu’s story - 20-year old Saliatu was falsely accused of stealing. When making the arrest, the officer handcuffed her forcefully, which made Saliatu so scared that she fought back. The theft charges were dropped, but instead she was arrested for assault on a police officer.

Unaware of her rights, and with no witnesses to support her, Saliatu pleaded guilty at first. But when AdvocAid’s lawyer took up her case, he encouraged her to change it to self-defence. He made the compelling plea that Saliatu, a petite and quiet girl, would only have fought the much bigger police officer because she felt threatened.

The Magistrate heard the plea, and finally – six months later – Saliatu’s case was closed. Saliatu could go home as a free women, but with deep scars from the experience. Whilst waiting for her defence to be heard, Saliatu had been detained twice. “I cried everyday,” she said. “Prison was the worst experience of my life.”

Why women offend - Saliatu now lives with her aunt while trying to rebuild her life. She is struggling to find money to start selling rice again, so that she can support her family and send her 5-year old son to school. With the increased prices, it has become much harder.

Sadly, Saliatu’s situation is common among female ex-detainees. AdvocAid frequently see women and girls reoffending after being released to an even more desperate situation than the one causing their first encounter with the law. To mitigate this risk, AdvocAid provides educational programmes before and after detention, and we occasionally give small business start-up grants to ex-detainees. However, we fear that the current financial crisis will push more traders like Saliatu into debt and cause more disputes like the one she found herself in. Ultimately, we might see more women and girls in conflict with the law.

Dear supporter, please consider making a regular donation to AdvocAid so that we can continue providing reliable and sustainable rehabilitation services to some of Sierra Leone’s most vulnerable women and girls. We cannot do it without you!

Links:

• Human Development Report 2015
• Who are women offenders? Interesting study from Uganda
• Read more about AdvocAid's Moving Forward Programme