Giving Compass' Take:

• Al Jazeera details the plight of female prisoners in Sierra Leone, whose ranks are growing due to a system that disproportionally targets poor people.

• Are enough aid organizations focused on criminal justice? AdvocAid is one org mentioned in this piece, providing legal aid to imprisoned women, including those on death row.

• The fight for gender equality across the board will be a long one, but progress can be made. Here's how thinking in that lens can help lift households out of poverty.

The number of female prisoners in Sierra Leone has doubled in the last three years. There are only two separate detention facilities for female prisoners in the country. The largest separate detention facility is the Freetown Female Correctional Centre which holds around 90 female prisoners and their children. Women on death row or those who are serving life imprisonment sentences are also held at the facility.

Sierra Leone still retains the death penalty for murder, treason and armed robbery. However, the majority of female prisoners are arrested for minor, petty offenses such as theft, loitering, disorderly behavior or debt. These laws are vague, poorly defined and disproportionately affect the poor.

Many women spend excessive time in prison waiting for their trial to be heard or serving sentences simply because they cannot afford to pay the alternative fine. AdvocAid Sierra Leone is the only holistic organization working to provide access to justice, education and empowerment for women and girls in conflict with the law in Sierra Leone.

AdvocAid has freed four women on death row through appeals or pardons and provided free legal advice to over 4,000 women since 2006.

Take a deeper look inside Sierra Leone's maximum security for women by Sabrina Mahtani and Maeve O’Gorman at Al Jazeera.