Infants raised inside penitentiary walls due to lack of caretakers require urgent policy consideration to ensure apt social development and reintegration.
Early in the morning at 8 a.m., nineteen children are learning to dance in a yard surrounded by two single-level houses and many trees.
Upon seeing some visitors enter their “playground,” they quickly cross their arms and obediently chime, “Good morning Mr. Warden. Good morning officers.” The greetings sound extremely out of place for such a young class.
These typical salutations, however, are routine at the nursery “school” of prison No. 5 located in Yen Dinh District of the northern province of Thanh Hoa.
Children who reside there are taught social skills and academic lessons in the prison yard, while their mothers undergo reeducation in the adjacent complex.
Little inmates
Separated from the prison grounds by a garden, the school is well-equipped with two classrooms, a dining room and a bedroom.
Ngo Thi Kim Thu, one of the four teachers, said the institution hosts two sets of classes.
The first are for babies under six month old, while the second is for all other children of different ages.
The babies are brought to class in the morning and returned to their mothers each night.
The other children stay with their teacher for the whole week and come back to their mothers’ cells on the weekend.
Six-year-old Nguyen Hoai Nam said, “My mom’s ‘house’ is very boring with no toys; I prefer to stay in class with my teachers.”
Her mother was sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug dealing.
“My dad died and my grandparents have passed away too,” Nam said.
“Mom remains here and I cannot go any where else.”
Nguyen Hai Y., sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug dealing, was arrested while she was pregnant and her first child was slightly over oneyear of age.
Since her husband was simultaneously serving jail time, Y. had to raise her children in prison.
“I feel so sorry that my children must stay here with me,” she said.
“I am trying my best so that I can be released sooner and take care of my children properly.”
Nguyen Thi Huong, another teacher, said the major challenge originates in combining children of various ages into one classroom which detrimentally affects the quality of instruction.
“Some of them are already of school age, yet they remain here; we ask the wardens to buy textbooks for them, hoping that they can catch up with their peers when they reintegrate into the community,” she said.
Fostering a future
According to the vice warden of the prison, Nguyen Van Van, although the law stipulates that prisoners’ children have to exit the compound after surpassing two months of age, inmates cannot abandon their offspring since no one in their families can care for them.
Female inmates often retain their children while serving time because their husbands and in-laws ignore them.
Each convict suffers from difficult circumstances which force her to bring her child into prison.
Van said that most children lacked birth certificates despite having already submitted relevant applications to the local administration.
Prison officials have also requested support from district and provincial departments of invalids and social affairs, as well as other local associations, to aid children over five years of age reintegrate into the community.
Yet, all these efforts have been consistently turned down.
“I feel sorry for the children, as they have to leave here upon growing up,” Van said.
“But how can they live in the society without support?”
Despite a dearth of financial resources, prison wardens and teachers held small celebratory activities and prepared gifts for these little “inmates” on International Children’s Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Teacher Huong said, “I hope that charitable organizations will adopt the children and return them to a normal life outside these bars like others; they are too innocent to live in such a dark atmosphere.”
Not only adults but also the children desire a brighter future outside the compound.
“My teacher teaches me to write, do math, dance and sing,” said six-year-old Ot.
“But I want to go home or go to the park like the children I see on television.”
Van said the prison held nearly 4,500 inmates, of which 1,200 to 1,400 are female.
The majority of incarcerated women will serve over ten years jail time, imparting a grim outlook on the prospects of children’s development without appropriate institutional
Early in the morning at 8 a.m., nineteen children are learning to dance in a yard surrounded by two single-level houses and many trees.
Upon seeing some visitors enter their “playground,” they quickly cross their arms and obediently chime, “Good morning Mr. Warden. Good morning officers.” The greetings sound extremely out of place for such a young class.
These typical salutations, however, are routine at the nursery “school” of prison No. 5 located in Yen Dinh District of the northern province of Thanh Hoa.
Children who reside there are taught social skills and academic lessons in the prison yard, while their mothers undergo reeducation in the adjacent complex.
Little inmates
Separated from the prison grounds by a garden, the school is well-equipped with two classrooms, a dining room and a bedroom.
Ngo Thi Kim Thu, one of the four teachers, said the institution hosts two sets of classes.
The first are for babies under six month old, while the second is for all other children of different ages.
The babies are brought to class in the morning and returned to their mothers each night.
The other children stay with their teacher for the whole week and come back to their mothers’ cells on the weekend.
Six-year-old Nguyen Hoai Nam said, “My mom’s ‘house’ is very boring with no toys; I prefer to stay in class with my teachers.”
Her mother was sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug dealing.
“My dad died and my grandparents have passed away too,” Nam said.
“Mom remains here and I cannot go any where else.”
Nguyen Hai Y., sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug dealing, was arrested while she was pregnant and her first child was slightly over oneyear of age.
Since her husband was simultaneously serving jail time, Y. had to raise her children in prison.
“I feel so sorry that my children must stay here with me,” she said.
“I am trying my best so that I can be released sooner and take care of my children properly.”
Nguyen Thi Huong, another teacher, said the major challenge originates in combining children of various ages into one classroom which detrimentally affects the quality of instruction.
“Some of them are already of school age, yet they remain here; we ask the wardens to buy textbooks for them, hoping that they can catch up with their peers when they reintegrate into the community,” she said.
Fostering a future
According to the vice warden of the prison, Nguyen Van Van, although the law stipulates that prisoners’ children have to exit the compound after surpassing two months of age, inmates cannot abandon their offspring since no one in their families can care for them.
Female inmates often retain their children while serving time because their husbands and in-laws ignore them.
Each convict suffers from difficult circumstances which force her to bring her child into prison.
Van said that most children lacked birth certificates despite having already submitted relevant applications to the local administration.
Prison officials have also requested support from district and provincial departments of invalids and social affairs, as well as other local associations, to aid children over five years of age reintegrate into the community.
Yet, all these efforts have been consistently turned down.
“I feel sorry for the children, as they have to leave here upon growing up,” Van said.
“But how can they live in the society without support?”
Despite a dearth of financial resources, prison wardens and teachers held small celebratory activities and prepared gifts for these little “inmates” on International Children’s Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Teacher Huong said, “I hope that charitable organizations will adopt the children and return them to a normal life outside these bars like others; they are too innocent to live in such a dark atmosphere.”
Not only adults but also the children desire a brighter future outside the compound.
“My teacher teaches me to write, do math, dance and sing,” said six-year-old Ot.
“But I want to go home or go to the park like the children I see on television.”
Van said the prison held nearly 4,500 inmates, of which 1,200 to 1,400 are female.
The majority of incarcerated women will serve over ten years jail time, imparting a grim outlook on the prospects of children’s development without appropriate institutional
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