Stories
People Groups
Theme
Country
AdvocAid: Stigma and incarceration often come hand in hand. Many of the women we have worked with over the years have faced difficulties reintegrating into society upon their release from detention, shamed or rejected by their families and communities. The...
Country: Sierra Leone
Invisible People: Lux has been homeless since she was 16. Growing up, her mother was critically ill, so Lux lived with her stepdad. He would kick her out randomly when he was drinking. “I wouldn’t know where to go,” she...
Country: United States
Our partner, Invisible TV gathers stories from homeless people in a bid to educate the public about homelessness through innovative storytelling, news, and advocacy, and you can share their stories towards this cause.. Since their launch in 2008, Invisible People...
Country: United States
Robert Stephenson emerged from jail visibly injured, his finger damaged and his wrists riddled with marks. One of his many interactions with law enforcement officials during his three-year stint of homelessness left his criminal record tainted and his physical appearance...
Country: United States
A street vendor by trade, Mayeso Gwanda was arrested on his way to sell plastic bags and charged with being “a rogue and vagabond”, an offence frequently criticised for the way it is arbitarily enforced. The offence of being “a...
Country: Malawi
Henry Simiyu and his colleagues work at the Mombasa Police Station. They have adapted their policing practices to work with sex workers to prevent crime rather than to arrest sex workers for petty offences. “Our sisters and brothers of the...
Country: Kenya
George, an Advocaid staff member, interviews a woman (in tank top) arrested for “fraudulent conversion” – a colonial law that market women and traders often fall victim to when they are unable to pay back loans and the debt is...
Country: Sierra Leone
Madame Seray Cawan est responsable du Centre pénitentiaire de Freetown, une prison de haute sécurité qui abrite 90 détenues, dont la majorité sont incarcérées pour des auteurs de infractions mineures. Elle est une fervente partisane d’Advocaid, une ONG sierra léonaise...
Country: Sierra Leone
Yvonne, une écrivaine primée, a été arrêtée par des Askaris du conseil municipal en habit civil dans la région de l’affluent Lavington, à Nairobi, en se rendant chez elle après son travail. Elle a été mise en accusation par le...
Country: Kenya
Responsable du Poste de Police, Magistrat Principal, Shanzu Court, Mombasa. Je suis dans le secteur judiciaire depuis 20 ans. Dans mon tribunal, j’ai beaucoup d’auteurs d’infractions mineures. Certains sont accusés en vertu de la « loi Maeneo », une loi...
Country: Kenya
I was arrested for driving a tuk tuk with a worn-out tyre. I was then charged in court. I was only a driver, the tuk tuk wasn’t mine. I was sentenced to 10 months in jail or a 40,000 shilling...
Country: Kenya
I am from Turkana. I have four children. I was carrying two passengers in my tuk tuk. When they reached their destination, l asked them for my payment, not knowing that they were police officers. Instead of paying, they called...
Country: Kenya
I was arrested in Bondeni. It was 10am and l was relaxing in a roadside kiosk drinking tea. We were six people having tea in the makeshift kiosk when county inspectorate police arrested us for idling. I was sentenced to...
Country: Kenya
I went to a hotel to collect my payment. When l entered, I found a Mombasa Municipal Council employee who told me to join a group of people they had arrested. I left my motorbike parked outside the hotel. They...
Country: Kenya
To make a living, I carry goods from the market and sell bananas in the evening. I was arrested in the market, whilst waiting for a client. The county askaris appeared. They didn’t even talk to me. I was taken...
Country: Kenya
Prisoners at Mombasa Detention Centre built in 1924 by the Colonial Government. Nine in 10 suspects in pretrial custody have been granted bail or bond but cannot afford the terms, according to an audit by the Office of the Director...
Country: Kenya
Prisoners at Mombasa Detention Centre built in 1924 by the Colonial Government. Nine in 10 suspects in pretrial custody have been granted bail or bond but cannot afford the terms, according to an audit by the Office of the Director...
Country: Kenya
Prisoners at Mombasa Detention Centre built in 1924 by the Colonial Government. Nine in 10 suspects in pretrial custody have been granted bail or bond but cannot afford the terms, according to an audit by the Office of the Director...
Country: Kenya
Prisoners at Mombasa Detention Centre built in 1924 by the Colonial Government. Nine in 10 suspects in pretrial custody have been granted bail or bond but cannot afford the terms, according to an audit by the Office of the Director...
Country: Kenya
Joyce Mbewe is married to Vanwyck, and they have 6 children. Vanwyck, a cleaner, works at the main depot of the National Bus Service. While going to work on foot, he was arrested and sentenced to 2 months in prison...
Country: Malawi
Vanwyck Mbewe is married to Joyce, and they have 6 children. Vanwyck, a cleaner, works at the main depot of the National Bus Service. While going to work on foot, he was arrested and sentenced to 2 months in prison...
Country: Malawi
Christina Macheso (24) is married to Madalitso Fatchi (30). Christina works for a long distance bus company, where she occupies seats in waiting buses to give would-be passengers the impression that the bus is almost full and about to leave....
Country: Malawi
In the cell are several young men who were arrested the previous night in a sweeping exercise by patrolling police. They will be charged under the vagrancy laws.
Country: Malawi
Built for approximately 800 inmates, this prison in Blantyre, Malawi, currently houses 1,993 people. According to a Prisons Inspectorate Report dated August 2016, there were over 14 000 prisoners in 28 jails across Malawi, with inmates facing severe overcrowding and...
Country: Malawi
The Freetown Female Correctional Centre is a maximum-security prison with about 90 female inmates, some with their children. Although women on death row and those serving life imprisonment sentences are also held at the facility, the majority of female prisoners...
Country: Sierra Leone
The Freetown Female Correctional Centre is a maximum-security prison with about 90 female inmates, some with their children. Although women on death row and those serving life imprisonment sentences are also held at the facility, the majority of female prisoners...
Country: Sierra Leone
The Freetown Female Correctional Centre is a maximum-security prison with about 90 female inmates, some with their children. Although women on death row and those serving life imprisonment sentences are also held at the facility, the majority of female prisoners...
Country: Sierra Leone
The Freetown Female Correctional Centre is a maximum-security prison with about 90 female inmates, some with their children. Although women on death row and those serving life imprisonment sentences are also held at the facility, the majority of female prisoners...
Country: Sierra Leone
Policemen handcuff young men they caught smoking marijuana on the beach. After about an hour of negotiations, they paid a bribe to arresting officers and were released. No charges were pressed against them. If charged and found guilty of possession...
Country: Ghana
Kopaty owns and operates a bar on the beach at Kokrobite, in Accra Ghana that is heavily patronized by Rastafarians. In Ghana, rastafarians are often targeted by the police and assumed to be in possession of marijuana ‘without lawful authority’,...
Country: Ghana
My husband left me, with a small daughter and my friend introduced me to sex work. In Eldoret, police and county inspectors harassed me, and I was arrested many times. The bribe was between KSh2,000 and KSh3,000 (US$20-30). If you...
Country: Kenya
I never went to school and I am a homeless hawker. I have been arrested countless times. Whenever the president is being driven past the park, or a “big person” is visiting Kenya, we [the homeless] are removed from the...
Country: Kenya
“I have worked 5 years as a sex worker, in Eldoret, Mombasa and then Nairobi. In Eldoret, the county inspectorate would arrest and abuse us. I have been raped three times by the police and beaten by a mob because...
Country: Kenya
Adama plaits hair professionally and also works as a sex worker. She lives in the same brothel with Fatimata, Salimata, Zainab and Cecilia. Every single one of them has a story about police harassment, arrests and assault. Clients often abuse...
Country: Sierra Leone
“I have been a sex worker for 10 years. Recently l had issues with my boyfriend. He was beating me. I went to the police, but my partner had bribed them already. The police told me they won’t help me...
Country: Kenya
“I joined the “movement” of sex workers two years ago. I joined after my sister died and she left me with five children to take care of. I tried all other forms of work but failed. So I came to...
Country: Kenya
Ella is a sex worker. She has been arrested several times by police, spent time in jail, and has been raped by police officers. While sex work in Malawi is not an offence; sex workers are often arrested either for...
Country: Malawi
“I have been a sex worker for 16 years. Our working conditions have improved over the years. They used to beat us in Nairobi, so l came to Mombasa. In Nairobi, l paid fines, was arrested and arraigned in court...
Country: Kenya
Selling goods or services on or along the streets is forbidden in Malawi. The markets are crowded and competition high so many people take the risk of looking for clients elsewhere, thus falling foul of the law and being arrested.
Country: Malawi
Commercial lorry and taxi drivers in Sierra Leone are also often harassed by the police. To avoid being processed for court, which would mean their vehicles will be impounded and they may end up paying huge fines, most of them...
Country: Sierra Leone
Like many other African cities, commercial motorcycle taxis are a means used by Accra residents to quickly navigate highly congested roads. A ride in Accra can cost anything between US$1 and US$20. Drivers (Riders) are often harassed, by the police...
Country: Ghana
“I started hawking fruit when I was 13. They never used to arrest me when l was young. Once they started arresting me, I would go to court, accept the charges and get fined. They would charge me with multiple...
Country: Kenya
“I have been hawking for 4 years and I have had 8 court cases. I have been charged with “hawking”, “dumping” and even with “assault”. I am very small physically; I can’t even fight. I have won two cases, but...
Country: Kenya
“I been hawking for 10 years. Last year, the county council Askaris took my stock worth KSh20,000 (US$200). They broke into the store where we keep our goods. Sometimes at the end of the day the county council Askaris split...
Country: Kenya
“I have been a hawker since 1986. I was a certified receptionist, but I couldn’t find a job because of my disability. I have an artificial leg. Hawking supports me and my kids. I work every day, but I only...
Country: Kenya
Kadiatu Dumbaya (52), popularly known as “Go Thro’way” lost her husband to Ebola 3 years ago. She hawks fruits on the streets of Freetown to enable her take care of her seven children. She is constantly harassed by police for...
Country: Sierra Leone
“I have been a hawker for 8 years. On April 10, 2014, county security officers came to arrest us. Everyone ran away but as I was trying to gather my goods, I was shot. Luckily, there was an army ambulance...
Country: Kenya
“I have been selling assorted items for 32 years. I have a trading license but I still get arrested and charged with “shouting and blocking the road or even “placing articles”. I don’t even understand what kind of charge that...
Country: Kenya
“I have sold bags and clothes for the last 15 years. In 2014, I obtained an “informal sector” license to sell on the streets. After continual harassment and arrests by the county council Askaris, I obtained a court order in...
Country: Kenya
“I have been a tout since 2007. I have a government issued badge and a uniform, and I pay a yearly fee, but I still get arrested. City council Askaris want a Sh500 (US$5) bribe, and police officers demand double....
Country: Kenya