Pubdate: Thu, 14 May 2009
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Olga Heaven, The Guardian
Note: Olga Heaven is the director of FPWP/Hibiscus

LONG SENTENCES FOR DRUG MULES WERE NEVER GOING TO ACT AS A DETERRENT

These Naive Smugglers Are Typically Badly Educated Single Mothers
Coerced into Crime, Says Olga Heaven

It was heartening to read that prison sentences for "drug mules" - men
and women who are used to carry drugs into the UK - could be reduced
to less than two years (Long jail terms do not deter drug barons, say
advisers, 23 April). As the Sentencing Advisory Panel members said:
"They are very often naive, vulnerable men and women from third world
countries whose fates are totally disregarded by those at the top of
the drug supply chain."

Your article focused mainly on drug barons, but they are worlds apart
from drug mules, and sentences should reflect this. My charity, the
Female Prisoners Welfare Project/Hibiscus, which promotes the welfare
of women in prison, has lobbied hard about the ineffectiveness of
"deterrent sentencing" for drug mules. The average sentence for drug
mules is six to eight years, but many of the women we work with are
serving up to 15 years. These sentences are particularly harsh
considering that these women are trafficked, they do not own or profit
from selling the drugs, and are often first-time offenders.

These long prison sentences, which tear their lives apart, have always
been erroneous. They were based on the assumption that "mules" were
sophisticated young women who smuggled drugs to fuel a jet-set
lifestyle. The reality is very different.

One of our clients, a Jamaican single mother of two, was sentenced to
10 years, despite this being a first offence. She was taking care of
her elderly mother and struggling to make a living. When her mother
fell ill and our client was unable to pay the hospital bills, a man
offered to pay but soon after demanded the money back. The woman was
unable to meet his demands and the man insisted, using threats, that
she carry a package to London to clear the debt. She was arrested on
entry at Heathrow, and found guilty of importation. During her
imprisonment her mother died, her two children were thrown out of
their home to live on the streets. Her daughter, aged 12, became pregnant.

Our experience, working for over 20 years with these women, sentenced
for importation, shows that they are typically poor, badly educated
single mothers who become drug mules out of desperation. The
Sentencing Guidelines Council now recognises this.

Long deterrent sentences handed out in the UK to drug mules from
abroad were always going to be ineffective, as the women were ignorant
of the risk before leaving their homes. In addition, these women were
often coerced and/or informed that, if caught, they would simply be
deported.

With the Foreign Office, Hibiscus has launched prevention campaigns in
Jamaica, Ghana and Nigeria to inform vulnerable groups of the dangers
and consequences of importing drugs into the UK. Following these
campaigns there has been a dramatic decrease in the women arrested
from those countries. Education is the answer. It is also less costly,
both in terms of human damage and in imprisonment costs.

Filling prisons with vulnerable women serving up to 15 years while
their children starve abroad should become a thing of the past.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake