By Kemo Cham
The winner of Sierra Leone’s first ever beauty contest for female prison inmates has been granted a presidential pardon.
Ms Sia Kembe, 20, was among over five hundred prisoners released as part of a presidential clemency to mark the New Year. The list also included two other girls who participated in the contest that was organized in November by the Gender and Equal Opportunity Unit of the Sierra Leone Correctional Service (SLCS).
The SLCS hopes to use the annual ‘Miss Correctional’ event as a way of reforming the inmates, in line with the idea of correctional system.
The move by President Julius Maada Bio is a continuation of a tradition that is rooted on a constitutional provision giving the president power to grant clemency to prisoners who meet a set of requirements on festive occasions.
Ms Kembe was serving a five-year jail term for manslaughter.
Jailed for the killing her husband, she was 20 months into her term.
She told journalists after her release that she was eager to restart her life.
The Miss Correctional was organized by the Sierra Leone Correctional Service in collaboration with the entertainment outfit, Salonejamboree. Murtala Mohamed Kamara, Chief Executive Officer of Salonejamboree, welcomed the news.
“For us it’s a welcome news. We really appreciate it,” he told Politico.
Kamara said the organization of the contest was to compliment the effort of the reformation process of offenders. He said he believed that their release was part of this reform process.
“We want to use this opportunity to thank the president and all those who in one way or the other contributed to the release of the girls,” Kamara said.
Salone Jamboree’s next move is to fulfill its commitment to providing the girls support in the form of counselling to help them go through their transition smoothly, and also financial support to help them restart their lives, Kamara added.
A total of 507 male inmates and 27 female inmates, drawn from 20 prison and detention facilities across the country, benefitted from the presidential clemency.
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