CHARACTERISTICS OF FEMALE PRISONERS PROMISING PRACTICE: Holistic support and advocacy in Sierra Leone The organisation AdvocAid is the only human rights organisation in Sierra Leone providing holistic legal aid and rehabilitation support to women and girls in conflict with the law.38 AdvocAid works with women and girls in prison through six different pillars, which aim to break the cycle of reoffending and offer better rehabilitation. The different levels of support provided are access to AdvocAid was founded in 2006 and has justice, education, vocational training and a team of paralegals, lawyers and social business skills training, raising awareness, workers who work with women and girls and research and advocacy. In the future, through the justice system, at police stations, they will provide psychosocial and financial courts and prisons. Their services include support for women and girls who have formal and legal education, welfare, and been released. post-detention support for prisoners and former prisoners. AdvocAid also works on The research and advocacy pillar of national advocacy and law reform campaigns AdvocAid’s work aims to involve and amplify that focus on broader issues impacting the voices of incarcerated and formerly women and girls in the justice system, incarcerated women and relay their views including conditions of detention. to policymakers and the public through photo exhibitions, documentaries and AdvocAid’s rehabilitation strategy is research pieces. The project offers a sense of grounded in a thorough knowledge of empowerment to the participants whilst also Sierra Leone’s justice system and society, challenging negative stereotypes and public as well as needs assessments of women perceptions of prisoners. and girls in conflict with the law. The organisation believes that rehabilitation In parallel, the raising awareness pillar must be approached in a broad sense, of AdvocAid’s work focuses on educating recognising that all stages of imprisonment people about the law, through nationwide have an impact on the chances of public campaigns – including songs and post-prison reintegration. TV shows – with the aim of building more tolerant and understanding communities for released women prisoners to return to. Limited opportunities Due to the larger numbers of male prisoners – especially in prisons that are overcrowded or lacking resources – authorities often focus on the situation and needs of men. As a result, fewer rehabilitation opportunities are available to women and girls and those that do exist tend to be less varied and of poorer quality than those offered to men and boys. Many female prisoners lack rehabilitation opportunities due to the type and location of the facilities in which they are held. Female prisoners are also regularly imprisoned far from their families and communities, which is in itself a barrier to successful rehabilitation. Female prisoners have also noted that when training opportunities were available to them, they were not aware of them or were not given information on how to participate. In many facilities there are long waiting lists to join courses – a particular problem for prisoners with short sentences, many of whom are female. As women represent a small proportion of the prison population, there are fewer women’s prisons – and those that exist often lack good education and training opportunities. As women’s prisons are typically smaller, there may also be less financial resources and physical space available for libraries, classrooms and training workshops. In some countries, small numbers of women are housed in separate parts of male prisons, and the number of women is often considered insufficient for investment in suitable rehabilitation programmes. Prison officers have also noted that women held in male facilities cannot participate in training and education programmes for security reasons, because the libraries, classrooms and workshops are located in the male part of the prison. In such a situation, prison authorities can consider a simple rotation system to allow female prisoners to use the facilities at specific times or on particular days. This type of system would need to ensure the sufficient separation of prisoners and provide effective supervision to guarantee the safety of female prisoners. 14 | Penal Reform International and Thailand Institute of Justice | Guide to the rehabilitation and social reintegration of women prisoners