For the first time, the International Women’s Day this year was celebrated by the Bureau of Corrections (BCR) at the Monrovia Central Prison in Montserrado County by both staff and prisoners. Staff from the Corrections Advisory Unit as well as the Monrovia Central Prison mentors joined in the celebrations. The day began with the members of staff receiving in - service training on “Treatment of women offenders” conducted by the national trainers.

The training brought out the challenges faced by the women corrections officers while dealing with children accompanying their mothers. Also highlighted was the aspect of how women prisoners find it hard to adjust to prison and therefore they become more traumatized by incarceration as compared to men.

The prisoners also sang and danced. The women prisoners had a fashion show parade, skits, songs, and drama.  The most impressive part was the participation of the male counterparts as well as how the staff and prisoners blended together for the celebrations. The juveniles paraded with posters that they had individually written personal feelings that they had towards their mothers, sisters or women who had impacted positively while they were growing up.

The motivational speaker for the day was Mrs. Ruth Caesar who is the Director of MARWOPNET, an NGO that mainly deals with programmes for abused women. She gave a story of a former female inmate at the Monrovia Central Prison who lived a changed life after release from Prison. She encouraged the women inmates that they should be able to walk out of prison and be better persons. She left them with the message: “Your story does not end here”.

A youth group working with the Ministry of Justice under the juvenile justice forum participated and presented the issues that juveniles go through due to peer pressure such as drug abuse, alcoholism which eventually leads to conflict with the law.

Dr. Janice Cooper from the Carter Center was the guest speaker for the day. In her speech she talked about the importance of women enhancing their potential through education and that leadership was not just about “being up there”. Women should strive to be leaders especially in the community.

The BCR in collaboration with CAU intends to initiate a women support network, aimed at providing professional and welfare support for women officers. The network intends to develop a role modeling concept aimed at identifying talent and intensive mentoring in order to develop and promote professionalism among women in the Bureau.