AdvocAid – Legal Aid for Female Inmates in
Contact: Alison Thompson
Email: thompson.ali@gmail.com
UN Report Cites Abuse in
Women
Particularly Marginalised by the Country’s Legal System
A report recently released by the UN
cites the ongoing abuse within
The UN report, entitled ‘Behind
Walls: An Inventory and Assessment of Prisons in Sierra Leone’ highlights the
excessively lengthy periods of remand experienced by most prisoners and their
lack of access to legal representation, as well as the squalid conditions of the
country’s over-crowded prisons. The
systematic violation of rights within the country’s prisons is cited by the
report as a risk to security and stability in
The AdvocAid project, which has been
working since August 2006 with female inmates in
The vast majority of the women in
In addition to being captives of an
unjust legal process, many women have also been charged according to antiquated
and unjust laws. For instance, at
Pademba Road and in prisons throughout the country, women are being held on
charges of ‘fraudulent conversion’, which is effectively the criminalisation of
debt – a crime adopted under colonial administration but one that has long since
been rejected by Western countries, including the UK itself. Women are indeed often imprisoned for
debts incurred by other family members, including husbands. Furthermore, the regulations surrounding
bail, which stipulate the need for a guarantor and excessively high sums of
money, mean that the vast majority cannot access this option and are forced to
languish in prisons.
Perhaps the serious shortcomings of
the Sierra Leonean judicial system are best illustrated by the following stories
of two women AdvocAid have assisted:
Fatu was arrested in March
2005. She is twenty years old and
is an orphan. Her younger brother was living with some extended family members
who were treating him poorly. Fatu decided to assist her brother in the only way
she knew how by taking him away from this abusive situation. Her uncle reported
her to the police and she was arrested on allegations of ‘child stealing’.
Subsequently her brother was returned to the extended family members who made
the complaint. Fatu has been on remand at Pademba Road Prison, awaiting trial,
with no lawyer and no family to assist her.
AdvocAid were able to secure
funding to instruct a lawyer for Fatu. In July 2007 Fatu was released. The judge
dismissed the case outright stating that the Prosecution did not have a strong
case and that Fatu should not have spent so long in prison for a bailable
offence.
Fatmata is a trader of gari cloth
and is married with 3 children. She was loaned 400, 000 leones ($133) worth of
gari cloth from a fellow trader (the complainant) and gave it to some people to
sell upcountry. These people did not bring the money back on time. She told the
complainant she could give her 200, 000 leones ($66) immediately and the rest
later but the complainant refused and reported her to the
police.
Fatmata was sentenced to 2
years imprisonment or a 500, 000 leones fine ($166). She was only released after
a member of a charitable organisation paid the fine on her
behalf.
Caught up in this system, women are
effectively forced to relinquish their role as important economic actors in
their community, critical caregivers in their family and active citizens in
society for extended and undue periods of time. Once released, women face even deeper
poverty and insecurity.
The Government of Sierra Leone,
along with international donors, must act quickly to establish an effective
legal aid system for all prisoners. Judicial reform needs to be a key priority
for the incoming elected Government following the impending elections in August
2007. Special attention needs to be given to the position of women in the system
and charges such as ‘fraudulent conversion’ which act to particularly
marginalize women must not be imprisonable offences. Meaningful judicial sector reform is
needed urgently in order to sustain peace and to ensure the protection of the
rights of all citizens in
AdvocAid
supports women in Pademba Road Prison by carrying out regular monitoring
activities, facilitating access to legal representation and organizing legal
education workshops in the
prison.