Help Establish Prison Libraries in Sierra Leone!
“When I am reading, it helps me to forget about my problems in here.”
(Prisoner in Pademba Road Prison Male Section, Freetown, Sierra Leone)
“Before AdvocAid’s literacy classes I could not read, now I can write my name ...
... when I am released I will make sure to teach this to my children”
(Female Prisoner in Pademba Road Prison)
AdvocAid: Supporting justice, education and reintegration for women in prison in Sierra Leone
APP is partnering with AdvocAid (an organisation in Sierra Leone) to establish prison libraries in Pademba Road Prison, Sierra Leone’s maximum security prison in the capital Freetown. A library in the male section is being constructed in partnership with the United Nations and a second library will be installed in the new women’s detention facility.
AdvocAid was founded in 2006 and supports justice, education and reintegration for women and their children in prison in Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone suffered a brutal decade-long civil war that formally ended in 2002. While the country’s citizens are now able to enjoy relative stability, Sierra Leone continues to rank near the bottom of the Human Development Index. State institutions remain weak and under-resourced, notably the justice and penal sectors. Pademba Road prison was erected in 1914 to house approximately 300 inmates. It now holds more than 1,200 inmates (including men, women and their babies and often juveniles) in overcrowded and deplorable conditions. There are no formal educational facilities available at the prison.
Access to Information, Access to Education
Site where the library will be built in the male prison
The libraries will provide detainees with possibilities for learning and education, providing hope during detention and easing reintegration into communities upon release. The libraries will facilitate initiatives such as book clubs, literacy classes, reading circles and legal education and public health education classes. They will also benefit prison officers, medical staff and lawyers through provision of specialist books. The libraries will have computer equipment to provide IT training for inmates and prison staff as well as access to electronic literature and resources. The libraries will eventually be registered as examination centres so that inmates can undertake correspondence courses and examinations to obtain qualifications.
AdvocAid currently uses the cell of women on death row as a classroom for its literacy classes
Stevie Russell, a librarian from University College London, is assisting with the library project on a pro bono basis. Check out her blog from her visit to Freetown in March and the progress being made:
http://padembalibrary.wordpress.com
We need your help to raise money for this exciting project! We need to purchase books in Sierra Leone and to fund costs of shipping books from the UK. We also need to buy computer equipment and to construct furniture for the libraries.
Please sponsor a book today for just £10! (This includes purchase of the book and shipping costs)
Please visit http://www.justgiving.com/padembaroadlibraries if you wish to donate.
Please contact (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you wish to make an in-kind donation of books or other items.
Thank you for helping us to enhance the lives of prisoners in Sierra Leone.