documenting - Free Minor Africa

WATING FOR JUSTICE
Juveniles in conflict with law, Sierra Leone
Fernando Moleres
FOREWORD
Lizzie Sadin´s impressive photographic report on incarcerated minors around the
world was presented in VISA pour L’image 2007. I remember being quite moved by
the dire circumstances of these young men in African jails. Deciding to delve into
this tragedy, I found written reports but very few images that attested to this reality.
For this reason I considered producing a photographic work that contributed to
creating awareness about the seriousness of this problem affecting most of Africa’s
countries and break the wall of silence surrounding minors in jail. The photography
grant Revela (Spain) gave me the necessary push to start the project. I remember,
upon receiving the grant, not being gladdened, but rather, I had doubts whether I
could see it through to the end. After months of research i found the opportunity
to visit Sierra Leone penal system.
During the whole month of February 2010 i visited prisons of Sierra Leone, mainly
the maximum security prison of Pademba in Freetown. The authorities gave me
permission to stay inside from morning to afternoon when they were lock in the
cells. In August I returned during the rainy season to photograph the exterior that
permit balance the lights outside with inner light during the dry season.
Publication of my photographic work on these jailed minors was widespread in
2011 and 2012: The Independent, Le Monde Magazine, The Sunday Times, Liberation, NZZ, El País Semanal, TIME…and exhibitions such as the World Press Photo.
However, the story did not transcend beyond acquainting a broad audience with
this ugly tragedy that encompasses dozens of minors in Sierra Leone jails and thousands in all of Africa.
Seeing there was no specific help to be found, I created the non-governmental organization (NGO) Free Minor Africa. This organization directly offers assistance
to minors and affords them an opportunity to reintegrate into society. I began with
the young people I met in Pademba prison and there have been encouraging results.
I believe documenting the changes in these youths and their return to society provides positive examples for an audience to become aware and want to help.
JUDICIAL SYSTEM
Sentencing in this country is abnormally harsh, and the Sierra Leone government has
pronounced that criminal responsibility begins at age ten, which is in clear conflict with
the Convention for Child Rights ratified by the same government in 1990.
One of the endemic ills of the Sierra Leone justice system is that inmates spend years
awaiting trial and sentencing. In 2004, A. Karim Sesay was sent to Pademba Road Prison
with thirteen years of age. At the end of 2010, he was awaiting trial, accused of conspiracy for murder. Karim has not received any legal aid and does not know the status
of his case. In nov. 2012 I visited him in Pademba , he will be released on 21 June 2013.
To discuss the situation of judicial system i bring the case of Sarh Monserey who
arrived to Pademba in 2007 at 13 years old. He was charged with murder. The facts are
that Sarh went to the river with his best friend and this was drowned. The child’s family accused Sarh with murder. Three years later he is in prison awaiting trial. He is an
orphan that never received any visit or legal assistant. He will be release on 04 July 2013.
Mohamed Conteh, fourteen years old, was accused of possessing a small quantity of
marihuana and spent four days in the police station without food. To be released, the
police had asked for 30,000 Leones (7.5 euros), which he did not have. After several
months in prison, he was sentenced to three years in jail or pay a bail of 100,000 Leones
(25 Euros). Mohamed was a street urchin—after 10 years of civil war, thousands of orphans arrived to live on the streets of Freetown.
PADEMBA ROAD PRISON
My arrival at Freetown’s Pademba Road prison was tough: a white man with a
camera and thirteen hundred prisoners living in terrible conditions. Many of
them spend years awaiting trial. The lack of legal assistance keeps them defenceless. Their lives are placed in danger by the long sentences imposed on them,
as well as the prison living conditions. Hygiene is non-existent, food and water
are scarce, and there is a constant struggle for survival that sparks tension and
violence. Moreover, the younger inmates suffer violence at the hands of the older
adult prisoners. Bit by bit, I gained the confidence of the inmates: thanks to my
status as a qualified nurse, some of the prisoners showed me their diseases and
I tried to help them, bringing medicines into the compound. I took pictures of
their illnesses and consulted with pharmacies to reach a diagnosis and find a
treatment.
Steven Lebbie was incarcerated in 2009, accused of stealing two sheep. In February 2010, I photographed him in a state of great fear. He was no longer there
when I returned in August; Steven had died of a general infection that spring. He
was seventeen at the time. During his stay in prison, Steven never received a single visit. This work was mostly shot in Pademba Road Prison where 32 children,
between the years of 14 and 17, share prison life with 1,300 adults.
Chapter 2 :
WAITING FOR AN OPPORTUNITY
This chapter is ongoing and we are in the process of
locating the ex inmates that i met in Pademba to follow their lives.
This chapter means to divulge the suffering in the lives of young minors after
their incarceration and the new realities these ex-prisoners face in Sierra Leone. I
came across these boys in the maximum-security prison of Pademba, where they
were serving time alongside 1,300 adult prisoners and under terrible conditions.
The juveniles are released after long periods in prison without rehabilitation. The
lack of opportunities when they go out is directly related with recidivism rates.
I located Mohamed Conteh and Abu Sesay to whom i met in Pademba feb.
2010. Abu was living on the streets outside the law till early January when he
was incarcerated again in Pademba. He was willing to be part of a program
of rehabilitation as apprentice of mechanic. The project is focused on following these young people once they leave jail, whether they return with their
families or are abandoned to the streets. For the majority of these minors, no
one is waiting for them outside. Abu, for example, says it is painful to hear that
your family does not want you back. Without some kind of help, without anyone to take you in when you leave prison, the risk of social ostracism is high.
The lack of rehabilitation programs while in prison makes the return to society
very difficult, leaving them completely disoriented and maladapted. Life in
the streets and the difficulty of survival in one of the poorest countries on the
planet pushes them to a life on the edge with clear risk of relapsing to a life in
conflict with the law.
ABDUL SESAY
Abdul is a boy I found in remand section at Pademba prison in august 2010 when he
was 14 years old. He was accused to have a portable radio that a man claimed as
his own. At the police station decided that he was adult and sent to maximum
security prison. The day i met he had not eaten or drunk anything. It was necessary
to buy food and water to the boss of the pavilion for him.
During his trial in October 2010 i was present at the court. It was possible to pay
his bail ( 50 U$) and he was released. Without parents he returned to the streets and
eventually ended up in jail again. I met again in juvenile court in october 2012. The
NGO FMA offered help to release him from juvenile prison and bring him to Saint
Michael center for rehabilitation. After five years alternating between prison and
the streets, he finally chose to find refuge in the Free Minor Africa program. He now
goes to school and the center is happy with his progress.
Other youths as Abu prefer to work, as mechanics or as drivers, such as Mohamed
Conteh who is in process to obtain his driver’s license--but to do all this, they need
some initial help to start the change in their lives.
REHABILITACION AT SAINT MICHAEL CENTER
The photography project will also follow the lives of the young ex-inmates that
were taken in under the social rehabilitation program of Free Minor Africa.
We know that failures in social integration by previously incarcerated minors
are primarily due to the lack of appropriate rehabilitation programs. It is necessary to treat their specific needs and conduct personalized follow-up on each
youth.
Saint Michael is a center that was opened in 2001 after Sierra Leona civil war
to work as a rehabilitation center for child soldiers. It was running by Chema
Caballero, a javeriano missioner, and Father Bertone. After fulfilling this task
was closed. In 2012 was opened again by father Bertone and run by Dominic to help boys and girls with problems. Free Minor Africa has arrived
to an agreement with the center to lodge boys in conflict with law, some
of them comming from Pademba prison and some from juvenile prison.
FMA run with the expenses of the boys that we bring to the center .
Abdul Sesay come in Oct 2012 and he has adapted very well after living five years
between street and prison. He has return to school and he is doing very well.
FMA will offer lodge and rehabilitation to Karim Sesay and Sahr Monserey
that will leave the Pademba prison early summer 2013 after 9 and 7 years
each.
The photography project will also follow the lives of the young ex-inmates that
were taken in under the social rehabilitation program of Free Minor Africa.
We know that failures in social integration by previously incarcerated minors
are primarily due to the lack of appropriate rehabilitation programs. It is necessary to treat their specific needs and conduct personalized follow-up on each
youth.