Jailed nursing mothers’ woes Female inmates and their children get ready for lock-up time at Chikurubi Female Maximum Prison recently
Female inmates and their children get ready for lock-up time at Chikurubi Female Maximum Prison recently

Female inmates and their children get ready for lock-up time at Chikurubi Female Maximum Prison recently

Anesu Chakabva Herald Correspondent
The clock is on 3 o’clock in the afternoon, a prison officer unlocks the gate and Rukudzo (not her real name), who was impatiently waiting on the other side, leaps straight into her mother’s welcoming arms, giggling.

Her mother, Angela Chipiti, grabs the baby, tosses her into the air before giving her a warm cuddle.

The two are separated every morning as she performs her duties while her 11-month-old baby goes to nursery school.

Their home is Chikurubi Maximum Prison, where the mother and other incarcerated nursing mothers are raising their babies.

Regardless of the fact that they have been given a chance to bond with their children, nursing mothers behind bars are living the nightmare of seeing their children surviving as prison inmates.

The children are deprived of the opportunities and lifestyles outside prison.

Sad as it may be, the babies hardly notice that something is amiss in their lives; they run around innocently in the prison compound before being locked up with their mothers in the cells for the night at 4 o’clock pm.

In the tiny cell housing the mothers and their babies, there is limited freedom and space to crawl or run around.

Chipiti is serving a 28-year jail term for fraud.

She says she has lost all hope for the future as all her productive years will be wasted behind bars.

The mother, who now has a pessimistic approach towards life, helplessly watches her baby play around in a confined space. The baby has to mind her movements so as to avoid trouble with other mothers.

In the cell, everyone has their little “territory” and encroaching might not go down well with other inmates depending on their relationship.

However, it is difficult to confine the toddlers as they are hyper-active and unaware of the consequences of their behaviour.

Supper is served just before 4 pm, the babies go hungry soon after it’s dark.

Mothers with goodies brought by relatives and friends feed their children while the neglected ones watch.

For the mother with nothing from relatives, life is like hell on earth. This is when they feel terrible about being incarcerated together with their children.

“I always regret committing the offence that brought me here because of what my daughter has to go through.

“The worst part is that she is innocent and each time I think of how she could be living outside prison, I can’t help but break down. I hope in the future, she will forgive me for depriving her of her freedom,” Chipiti said.

Another nursing mum, Chipo Nkomo (22), convicted of culpable homicide, shares the same sentiments. She said babies do not understand or know what is and what is not theirs.

Nkomo said it was almost impossible to tell your baby she cannot have what another child is eating.

“When a baby starts crying for another baby’s food, one is overwhelmed by emotions because it hurts not to be able to give him what he wants. He won’t understand why he does not have what the other baby has so you just soothe him to sleep or until he is quiet. However, others share their ‘goodies’, which makes it easier,” she said.

Moreblessing Mavhure (30), also convicted of fraud, concurred saying it was so touching to see a baby crying and knowing that you cannot help the situation.

She said it breaks her heart to see an innocent baby suffer for her mother’s sins.

On a good day, the babies eat a small portion of beans. Meat was last served on Christmas Day and the inmates live in hope of being rescued by well-wishers.

The nursing mothers’ diet is dominated by sadza and dried vegetables.

Children whose mothers are in prison are also stigmatised. Hazel Chakanyuka, an inmate convicted of theft, said mothers in prison are usually blamed for their children’s misdemeanour.

“Although I was a thief at work, I would never want my daughter to be such. However, by dint of my imprisonment, no one will expect me to groom an honest and disciplined child.

“My daughter suffered a lot of stigma especially at church more than anywhere else because of what I did and I think it’s unfair.

“It is my social life that has to be destroyed not that of an innocent child,” Chakanyuka said.

Assistant Principal Correctional Officer Violet Mupaso, the Chikurubi Maximum Female Prison’s Station Rehabilitation Officer, said women in prison face challenges which affect their rehabilitation and end up going back into society untransformed.

“These women are affected by so many things that impede complete rehabilitation. For example, one may not accept their sentence and this alone affects them psychologically so much that they end up not paying attention during the programmes we offer,” Mupaso said.

She said mothers who do not have support from relatives and friends also find it difficult to cope ending up being emotionally and psychologically shut down.

“We try to offer counselling to those who have not accepted their sentences because the earlier one accepts their fate, the better for them.

“Some leave this place totally transformed and fit for society but this only happens if one has been psychologically stable enough to concentrate during rehabilitation.”

Deputy Officer Commanding Harare Metropolitan Province, Assistant Commissioner Elibazeth Banda-Karinda said the prison has a prepared menu for toddlers and inmates. This, she said, would provide them with a nutritious diet.

However, food shortages hinder them from offering such meals.

“We have a Statutory Instrument that guides us on feeding inmates but we are failing to deliver because we are not getting enough from Treasury.

“The only right that is taken away from inmates is their right to freedom otherwise their other rights which include the right to food are retained and as an organisation, we fully acknowledge that,” Assistant Commissioner Banda-Karinda said.

She urged donors and well-wishers not bring inmates finished products only, but machinery and equipment which can be used to produce goods and food.

The situation is also bad for mothers who left their toddlers at home. The mothers are hurt because they do not know the conditions back home. They argue that it is better to suffer with their children than live apart.

Senzeni Murambatsvina (46), who is serving nine years for murder, suffers from insomnia because of worry for her children. She committed a crime of passion after she attempted to kill her sister with whom she shared her husband.

Murambatsvina set the family hut ablaze leading to her niece’s death. The girl was also her step daughter. The target, her sister, escaped.

Murambatsvina regrets taking the law into her own hands.

“I regret what I did because it will adversely affect the future of my children and it gives me sleepless nights. No one is there to stand up for them.

“I should have just walked out of the loveless marriage because my plan was useless. Now I have left my sister with my husband all to herself,” she said.

Her children have since stopped attending school.

Tsanagurai Gonesa (37) said thoughts of her three children haunt her more than the crime she committed. She is also in jail for fraud.

“What I did, I did for my children, if that is a crime at all. I do not even know how they are surviving and as I speak right now, maybe they haven’t even eaten anything proper for days,” she lamented.

Female inmates at Chikurubi Maximum Prison attend peer education classes on HIV and AIDS, home based care courses and other vocational courses like sewing.

These are offered so as to keep them occupied and also to equip them with skills that can generate income during and after prison.

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