Sierra Leone News: 12 Graduate from Kenema Female Correctional Centre

Twelve female detainees at the Female Correctional Center in Kenema have graduated after going through six months of literacy and numeracy classes funded by European Union implemented by AdvocAid under the project ‘Justice Matters for Women and Girls’.
In her statement the EDUCAID Executive Director Sierra Leone, Mirian Mason Sesay thanked the graduants for their efforts in going through the training, adding that education is the best way to drive poverty. She said some people are lucky to get educational support from their childhood days to completion. She said for those who did not get the educational support it does not mark the end of their lives.
She disclosed that there are two offers meant for the graduants; one is to support them if they want to continue the education and the other is to link them up with their child/children and to also provide them with educational support from three years of age, that is, from nursery to SSS 3 level in education. She said nobody is big to learn ‘as long as you are determined’.

She said most of the detainees are behind bars as  a result of mistakes on their part; she therefore encouraged all to make use of the opportunity exposed to them.
Speaking on behalf of the Correctional Service Regional Director, East, the Deputy Director Pius John said during the old dispensation of the Prison Act of 1961, more emphasis was on the punitive aspect of inmates. But with the advent of the Correctional Act of 2014, focus is now on corrective measures which have to do with the three Rs, i.e. Reformation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration. He said ‘giving people the opportunity to contribute positively to national development after here is one of our core values’. He said those passing through correctional centres as part of their sojourn in life should not see themselves as having no future. He assured all that any one that comes into correctional centre and leaves is useful and must be given the opportunity to make his or her own meaningful contribution to the overall development of the nation.

Giving a brief background of the project, the Freetown Program Manager, AdvocAid, Julie Mariama Sesay said AdvocAid was formed in 2006 and has since been supporting women and girls who are in conflict with the law. She said they provide lawyers and follow up their matters from police to court level in ensuring that justice prevails.
She disclosed that they also offer training in collaboration with EDUCAID so that inmates will have the opportunity to learn and to give them post prison support by providing business skill training and start up kits. She said prison is not the end of everything but they also provide social welfare support by also connecting the children to their mothers in detention. He also ensured that the human rights of detainees is guranteed.
The ceremony was chaired by the Regional Director in the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children Affairs (MSWGCA), Madam Alice Jeneba Koroma, while
Moi Sellu, District Coordinator, Access to Security and Justice Programme (ASJP), Kenema and the representative of Human Rights Commission, east, made meaningful contribution.
Presentation of certificates and christmas gifts climaxed the ceremony.

source: Awoko