Charity praised for tackling plight of female drug 'mules'

[T_i_B]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2018682.ece

Jamaican drugs "mules" - women who swallowbags of cocaine - were being picked up every day at British airports three years ago. However, arrests have now fallen to less than one a month, and the number of Jamaican women in prison has tumbled from 700 to just over 200.

The turnaround follows a graphic publicity campaign in which posters, bumper stickers and beer mats were distributed across the Caribbean island. Its message - that smuggling drugs into Britain carried long prison sentences and could prove fatal if a bag splits - was hammered home by television films and a series of public meetings.

The campaign was masterminded from south London by a tiny charity originally set up to advise foreign women in British jails, but whose work now takes it to the Caribbean and west Africa. For its unstinting efforts dealing with a group of inmates who are often forgotten, FPWP/Hibiscus will today be awarded the Longford prize. The award recognises "outstanding qualities of humanity, courage, persistence and originality".

In the past year they have advised more than 1,700 women of 50 nationalities. Nearly a quarter of the 4,420 women behind bars in England and Wales were born abroad. Almost all the Jamaicans and a high number of the Nigerians have been convicted of drug smuggling, and have typically received sentences of between four and 15 years.

[Bobbieo]

1. That charity group is to be highly commended!

[Ex Lion Tamer]

2. Watch the movie "Maria Full Of Grace."

It's about female drug mules. Pretty intense.