For some years now, Sierra Leone has stayed off the front pages of the newspapers. People are slowly and arduously rebuilding their country after one of the most savage civil wars in living memory, infamous for the practice of amputation as a means of terrorising the population.

Crime – from petty theft to murder and rape – remains a huge problem in a country so deeply traumatised by more than a decade of fighting that left some 50 000 dead. Many prisons are severely overcrowded – none more so than the notorious Freetown Central Prison, also known as Pademba Road, built to house around 220 inmates, now home to some 1,300 wretched individuals.

Panos photographer Fernando Moleres gained the trust of the prisoners and became a familiar and welcome sight in the prison yard.