Childhood behind bars: 1500 Bolivian children raised in prison by parents

[Judi Lynn]

Childhood behind bars: 1500 Bolivian children raised in prison by parents
By The Guardian
Sunday, April 20, 2014 17:26 EDT

Rosy is a young working mother who drops her two daughters off at school each morning before scouring the markets for ingredients to make the meals she cooks and sells later in the day. Every afternoon she picks her daughters up from school and they head home to San Pedro, Bolivia’s most notorious prison.

“In the beginning I was afraid. I thought that anything could happen here, but the days went by,” Rosy says, of raising her children behind bars. “Everything depends on the parents, how we organise to protect and take care of the children. Outside it’s the same.”

According to official figures, 1,500 Bolivian children live with a parent behind bars, but the total could be much higher – especially during school holidays when children visit incarcerated parents.

Hundreds of women and children living alongside prisoners, pass out through the metal gates every day for work or school.
According to national law, children must leave prison by the time they turn six, but many stay much longer with parents who do not want to let them go. They fear their children will be abused in homes and do not trust extended-family members, many of whom are extremely poor, to provide for them. That leaves some parents feeling that growing up in prison is a child’s best – or only – option.

More:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/20/childhood-behind-bars-1500-bolivian-children-raised-in-prison-by-parents/

[Warpy]

1. It would probably beat the hell out of a lot of foster care here

and has the added effect of keeping the kids and mothers bonded together.

What we do isn't working, snatching babies away from mothers who have just given birth before there is any chance to bond and parceling them out to family who might not want another mouth to feed or indifferent foster care.