On 20 September 2016, UNAMID Rule of Law Section handed over to the local authority a Newly-built facility at the women’s wing, at Shallah Federal Prison in El Fasher, North Darfur. The project, which is part of the Mission Quick Impact Projects programme, consists of one shelter, one visiting bay for female offender visitation, one child friendly space and one guard room. The project also marks the completion of the fourth phase of the support programme to the prisons institution, which will enable the state prison’s system to relocate women offenders from Kheir Khanaga prison to the new facilities.

Addressing the occasion, The representative UNAMID Head of Office, Sector North, Mr. Mohamed Ali reiterated the Mission’s continued commitment to support efforts to improve the prisons conditions, management and operations, so that the prisons in the state can operate in accordance with international standards. He urged the prisons administration and beneficiaries to make optimum use of the facilities and to ensure its sustainability through engagement with locality and state authorities in its maintenance.

“Children accompanying mothers to prison also require safe and secure environment for their psychological and physical development,” says Mr. Ali

Team Leader of Rule of Law office in North Darfur, John Omondi, noted that the handed over project strengthens the capacity of the prisons system to provide a conducive environment for the rehabilitation of offenders to prepare them for community reintegration upon release and peaceful co-existence within their societies.

In his remarks, the representative of the Police Commissioner, North Darfur, Colonel Professor Abdulmuhsin Badawi, explained that the new facility will positively impact the rehabilitation of the female inmates and expressed his appreciations for the Mission’s support to improve the living conditions in the new facility for women offenders in the state.

The State Director of Prisons, North Darfur, Colonel Almutasim Abdelftah, stated that the new women prison facilities in Shallah is one of the significant projects funded by UNAMID, besides other projects such as provision of potable water and the construction of the reformation house.  “These facilities constitute a shift in creating human environment for the female inmates,” says Abdelftah.

UNAMID has funded other three Quick Impact projects at Shallah Federal Prison as part of the construction of the women prison, which included the construction of dormitory for female offenders, Kitchen, office block, a 40,000-liter underground water tank and four outside toilets and bath rooms.