Gender Equality Sierra Leone Project #27810

Supporting 350 Female Detainees in Sierra Leone

by AdvocAid

Supporting 350 Female Detainees in Sierra Leone

Project Report | Mar 10, 2020
Connecting Mariatu with her family

By Rhiannon Davis | Executive Director

One of AdvocAid's pillars of support is tracing family that incarcerated women would not otherwise be able to reach out to. Even though police stations and correctional services have a duty to inform family members of the arrest, they often does not happen.

During one of our social worker's weekly visits, Mariatu* approached her. As soon as she started talking, she could not hold back her tears: "Auntie, last week they arrested me. I just came to Freetown for a visit. None of my family up in the provinces was informed about my arrest. I beg you to inform them for me. They will think I just left my children behind like that. These thoughts don’t let me sleep at night".

Fortunately, Mariatu knew of a distant family member working in town. The next day, our social worker headed out to look for him. After not finding him at his work place the first time, she came back another time. When she finally managed to find him, he immediately informed the rest of the family. Having been distressed over Mariatu’s disappearance, it was a great relief for them to hear that she was well, though arrested.

Mariatu was very relieved to know that her family and children were doing well and had been informed about her arrest. Thank you for supporting our social work, so that we can continue assisting families, even when the legal system turns their back to them.

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Dec 18, 2019
Building resilience behind bars

By Anna Laura Magyarlaki | Development Associate

Mercy, AdvocAid’s social worker, conducting a ballgame as part of a psycho-social session in the Makeni Correctional Centre.

Living behind bars, only able to leave the shared cell for nine hours aday, many women’s thoughts circle around the same issues and questions day in, day out:

How many years will my sentence last?

When will I see my child again?

Will my community and family accept me after being released from prison?

Added to these thoughts comes a monotonous daily routine, sometimes interrupted by visits from outside, but mainly characterised by long hours of waiting for the time to pass. Left alone with their thoughts and worries, some women develop mental health issues such as depression.

To tackle this, AdvocAid’s social workers have been offering monthly psycho-social sessions, since September 2018, in five correctional centres across Sierra Leone. These sessions aim to help incarcerated women manage stress, resolve conflicts and build resilience. The sessions vary: some teach the women about coping mechanisms to deal with emotions such as anger, frustration, desperation or sadness, others incorporate games, dancing or other creative ways of expressing your self. Whilst some women enjoy verbal ways of processing their experiences and challenges, others prefer storytelling, singing or speaking to a social worker one on one.

After every session, the participants get the chance to share what they enjoyed and their ideas for improvement. Over the past year, with the help of their feedback, AdvocAid has been able to adapt its support to meet the individual needs of each woman. Thanks to that, the sessions are a great success today. As one of the participants put it:

“This session is great. I am most times worried about my case whenever I remember my offence but from this session I have learnt ways to cope with my emotions through the use of the positive reach scheme and how I should deal with negative thoughts through the happy moments coping techniques.”

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On behalf of the women and girls we work with, thank you for your continued support for AdvocAid. Each and every donor, however big or small their contribution might be, helps us adapt our activities to respond to the acute needs of the women we work with.

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Sep 11, 2019
Mariatu and Tenneh's story - a desire to learn

By Anna Laura Magyarlaki | Development Associate

Women in the courtyard of a female correctional

In Sierra Leone, children who are on trial are incarcerated in ‘remand homes.’ As juveniles, they cannot be incarcerated in the adult correctional centres. These children remain in the remand homes for the duration of their court case - sometimes for many years.

For children detained in the remand home they are not only deprived of their liberty, they are often deprived of an education. These years without access to education, coupled stigma of incarceration, can prove to be too big a gap in their learning to be bridged when starting a life beyond detention.

AdvocAid is fortunate to have generous support from a range of volunteers. One such volunteer is a teacher who has been visiting the remand home on a weekly basis for several months to provide tailored classes to two girls in the remand home, Mariatu* and Tenneh*. This teacher has been helping them improve with their writing, reading and comprehension, as well as basic maths. These are critical skills, as both Mariatu and Tenneh had ambitions to sit their Basic Examination Certificate (BEC). AdvocAid was able to pay the fees required and buy the uniforms needed to sit the exam, as well as buy books and supplies for their learning, with thanks to the generous donations received through Global Giving. In addition to the fantastic support from our volunteer teacher, AdvocAid was also able to pay for a teacher to provide a few weeks of exam preparation lessons.

Passing the exam means that Mariatu and Tenneh could then apply for senior secondary school and continue their education. They’re currently awaiting their results with keen anticipation. Our social worker Fatmata visits Mariatu and Tenneh at the remand home regularly and talks about their ambitions: ‘Both are so passionate, so hard-working. You know, they both have such plans. Tenneh dreams of becoming a counsellor. She wants to tell others, girls of her age, that there is always a way out. And Mariatu, she wants to become a lawyer. She told me that every time she goes for a hearing at court she sees how many people are left without a lawyer, without any hope or information about their cases. They both want to make a difference once they get out.’

All stages of imprisonment can have an impact on post-prison reintegration. Providing legal aid and social welfare support, including psycho-social support, during incarceration is a step to helping women and girls leave prison with brighter prospects. behalf of the people we work with, thank you for your generous donations, that allow us to keep up each pillar of our work.

Mariatu was released on bail in August 2019, after taking her BEC exam. She was in the remand home for several years whilst on trial.

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