The Bangkok Rules require special measures to be taken to counterbalance the difficulties faced by women detained far from their homes. This is so because of the relatively small number of women in prison in many countries, there are fewer female detention facilities so it is more likely that women will be detained far from home. In Sierra Leone where many women are detained far from their homes making it difficult to maintain family ties. Research interviews with Correctional Center Officers revealed that female prisons in the country have attempted to respond to this issue by, for example, making phones available in each center.
This was revealed by the publication of the “Woman Wahala Na Prison” report in which it stated that this is significant given the limited resources available. “Almost half of the women we surveyed told us they were able to call their families. Some reported going weeks without being able to speak with their families because of networks problems or lack of battery or credit on the mobile.” At the time of the study, although there was no official policy in place, it was common practice for the Officer in Charge of each center to use her own money to buy phone credit for women detained, the report said.
“Calls therefore have to be very brief and phones do not always have credit. The Director General of the Sierra Leone Correctional Service told us that they are hoping to find budget to officially allocate to phone credit.” Correctional centers allow visitors three days a week. The duration of the visits varies greatly from one center to the other – between 15 minutes to two hours depending on the prison.
According to the report, some of the officers admitted to threatening women with taking away their visitation rights as a form of punishment, which would breach international standards. “Yet none of the family members we interviewed said they were ever prevented from visiting their loved ones. 45 per cent of the women we surveyed reported having never been visited while in prison.” 30 per cent told the team that they did not know why their families had not visited them. Others explained that they are detained in centers that are far from their families who, in most cases, cannot afford the lengthy and expensive journey.
Others said that their families did not know they were in prison because they were ashamed and preferred not to tell them. Others had no way of contacting their families because they live in remote villages with no access to phones. Many women also explained that relatives had not come to see them because they were afraid of being implicated by association. “I don’t know why my sister is not coming. I am friendly and loving, but nobody has ever come to see me, not even my children” said a woman in prison and another woman said her brother and sister have abandoned her saying that they do not have a sister anymore because their sister is a thief.
By Zainab Iyamide Joaque