<\/p>\n
Women prisoners, who do not have anyone to take care of their children, bring them to the prison with them. Jails in Pakistan are one of the worst places for their upbringing.<\/p>\n
A housewife from Sheikhupura was five months pregnant when she was sentenced to one-year imprisonment in 2021. \u201cI felt as though I had sentenced my unborn child to a life behind bars since I did not know when they would let me out,\u201d said the 26-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n
She served her sentence in Kot Lakhpat Jail in the neighbouring district of Lahore. Her baby was not just born in the jail hospital, he also stayed with her until she completed her sentence. She also has an older child who was taken care of by her family during her prison stint.<\/p>\n
Another former inmate, whose two-year-old child stayed with her during her three-year prison stint, complained of jail food neither being sufficient nor nutritious enough for children. Education facilities too, are woefully inadequate, she said. \u201cTeachers were unqualified and they did not take classes regularly. Books were so old and tattered that they were hardly legible,\u201d she explained. The government, in fact, does not even provide these basic educational facilities \u2014 they are facilitated by various non-government organisations.<\/p>\n
She also lamented the lack of privacy needed to breastfeed children. \u201cSince we had to do this in the open, we were often ridiculed,\u201d she said. The jail wardens would routinely make lewd remarks and often beat them up for \u201cshamelessly exposing\u201d themselves. Even the children were not spared from the violence, she said, which leaves long-lasting effects on their emotional and mental wellbeing.<\/p>\n
Moazzam Ali Shah, a Lahore-based lawyer who also champions prison reforms, said children living with their imprisoned mothers are usually under the age of six.<\/p>\n
The prison infrastructure is often ill-equipped to cater to the special needs of women prisoners. For one, they lack arrangements and products for women going through menstruation.<\/p>\n
Amina Begum, who spent two years in Kot Lakhpat Jail for possessing drugs with the intent to sell them, lambasted the jail authorities for not taking care of women\u2019s sanitary needs. \u201cIt was very rare that we got the sanitary pads we needed. I have seen many women tearing off pieces of their shawls to use as pads,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Sabah Begum endured much worse. She spent six years behind bars after being sentenced on multiple counts of theft. \u201cI was slapped, made to beg for menstrual pads and do much more that I cannot speak of.\u201d<\/p>\n