According to the British Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1807, the recaptives could be subject to apprenticeships led by British colonists in Sierra Leone and the males enlisted into the Army or Navy. In many instances, the recaptives who were assigned to apprenticeships were sold for $20, giving the apprenticeship system qualities similar to slavery. It is documented that the recaptive apprentices were unpaid and the settlers who they were appointed to had devices which could be used to discipline them, namely sticks. According to Suzanne Schwartz, a historian on colonial Sierra Leone, in June 1808 a group of 21 men and women ran away to the nearby native settlement of Robiss and upon recapture were imprisoned by the settlers in Sierra Leone, thus contributing to the slavery-like qualities of the apprenticeship system.