Eight inmates serving sentences at correctional facilities across Sierra Leone have been released after the Football for Reform initiative intervened to settle fines that had kept them behind bars.

The beneficiaries, comprising men and women from Bo, Kenema, Kailahun, Waterloo and Freetown, had reportedly remained in custody because they could not pay fines ranging from Le100 to Le5,000, according to the initiative.

Former Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) President and FIFA Council Member Isha Johansen, who founded and funds the initiative, said the program seeks to use football, fashion and the arts to promote rehabilitation, skills development and reintegration.

Johansen said the initiative has supported inmates for about five years, with the broader objective of helping them acquire practical skills that can provide livelihoods after their release and reduce the risk of reoffending.

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The program has provided inmates with opportunities in football coaching, tailoring, sewing and bead-making. In 2023, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) conducted a CAF D License coaching course for female inmates at the Freetown Correctional Centre as part of the wider Football for Change program aligned with Johansen’s Football for Reform initiative.

Johansen said her involvement was inspired by an early visit to the female correctional facility with former FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura. She said the experience showed her that some inmates were victims of circumstance, including people who had been “being at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The initiative has also established a training and skills center at the female correctional facility. The center was constructed with support from FIFA and was designed to give female inmates access to tailoring and other practical training.

Among those released was David Ansumana of Kailahun, who had been convicted of larceny and sentenced to 24 months in prison or a NLe2,000 fine.

Ansumana said he had spent more than seven months in custody after his roommate, a phone mechanic, allegedly disappeared with a customer’s phone. Following the payment of his outstanding fine, he was released.

He thanked Johansen for what he described as a second chance and said he intended to use the skills he acquired while in prison to rebuild his career.

Another beneficiary, Martha Mende of Bo, had been detained while heavily pregnant. She was convicted of “obtaining by fraud” and said she was accused by her sister-in-law while selling goods on her behalf after her husband had abandoned her.

Mende expressed gratitude to Johansen for paying her NLe5,000 fine and providing additional assistance with house rent and money.

Former inmate Doreen Sunnielly, who spent 14 months in prison before her release, also credited the initiative with helping her develop skills that she has since turned into a livelihood.

Sunnielly said she established Dee’s Beadiful Designs after learning bead-making through the program and has since enrolled at university. She encouraged other former inmates to remain hopeful and make use of the opportunities available to them after release.

Johansen has also appealed to the SLFA to help former inmates who completed the CAF D License course gain practical experience by creating opportunities for them to apply their coaching skills.

“I would encourage SLFA to engage the female inmates who enrolled in the CAF D license course and successfully obtained the CAF D to offer them the opportunity to put their knowledge and skills into practice,” she appealed.

The initiative reflects Johansen’s broader effort to use football beyond competition, positioning the sport alongside vocational training and creative skills as a pathway toward rehabilitation and reintegration. CAF has previously described the program as an effort to use football to drive social impact and create opportunities for people in vulnerable situations.