Sierra Leone
Seen in the press
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Sierra Leone : doing time in "Hell"
A shaft of light penetrates the foul air through a fist-sized vent. It reveals naked, sweating bodies packed side-by-side like sardines, lying in darkness on a greasy concrete floor. The stench of urine and excreta from a brimming plastic bucket – just one for a cell containing perhaps 20 people –…Sierra Leone: "I came away convinced that many of them know that they will die in the most inhumane prison in the world, despite their young age"
Alberto López is a Spanish journalist at the Department of Communication of the Salesian Missions Office in Madrid. A few days ago he visited one of the most inhumane prisons in the world in order to prepare for a documentary on the work of the Salesians with the most disadvantaged young people of…Sierra Leone: no transport for prisoners delays justice
Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, “No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.” However, the lack of prisoner transport trucks in 14 out of 19 Correctional Centres tends to violate that provision.Sierra Leone: justice for women who kill
Aminata* was only 17 years old when she was arrested for killing her former boyfriend eight years ago. She was sentenced to death for murder in November 2010 and feared each day she would be executed before her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the government on Sierra Leone’s 50th Inde…Conditions in detention: EU supports Prison Watch Sierra Leone with €284,000 towards monitoring and legal aid
On 13 January 2017 the project “Monitoring Access to Justice and Protecting Human Rights through Legal Aid Representation in Places of Detention”, implemented by Prison Watch Sierra Leone and with a budget of €284,000 over 24 months funded by the European Union Delegation to Sierra Leone through th…
Sierra Leone : prison reforms bring no relief
Recent reforms to Sierra Leone’s prison system have failed to bring much meaningful improvement, according to an IWPR investigation. Official figures show that the current inmate population stands nationally at 3,184, even though the system only has capacity for 1,785.The forgotten child prisoners of Sierra Leone
Child inmates are left to languish in prison with no visitors or legal assistance as many wait years for a trial. Sorie’s last day of freedom was a few weeks before his 14th birthday, when the well-to-do father of a girl he liked got word that his daughter had been hanging around with a street boy.Sierra Leone : DIGNITY is pushing for positive changes in prisons
DIGNITY and local partner Prison Watch ensures political commitment to ambitious revision of prison legislation in Sierra Leone. It has been 55 years since the last revision of prison rules in the West African country, but over the past few years the prison authorities – now known as Correctional S…