By Jenneh Braima
A former Member of Parliament for the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), Elizabeth Alpha Lavalie has called for the expansion of the Pademba Road maximum security prison to accommodate more prisoners. Mrs Lavalie, who is now the CEO of a civil society organization, CISPAN, made this call last week at a regional civil society organizations forum held at the British Council in Freetown. She said the Pademba Road Prison was a clear sign of human rights abuse since it was now accommodating far more prisoners than the number it was built for. Speaking about women and justice, the former three times parliamentarian said that the local courts had been dominated by men, which she said made it hard for women to take the forefront in administering justice for the abuse of women’s rights by men. She noted that the next site for the relocation of the prison should be larger than the present one, adding that even prisoners had rights and that overcrowding was a violation of their rights to good shelter. The chairman of the occasion, Charles Lahai said the meeting was important because it cemented the relationship between the civil society organizations and ENCISS, who organised the forum, to speak with one voice as non-state actors.
