Though they are never considered prisoners, children living in prisons with their mothers have to contend and follow strict timetables leave alone doing without the very basic essentials.
Behind the tall concrete walls of the famous Lang’ata Maximum Women’s Prison, a number of toddlers are spotted holding and clinging tightly to their mothers, most of who have been jailed for the most serious crimes like murder or robbery with violence.
It has been a routine for Marceline Mideva, a middle-aged woman serving a lifetime sentence. It is similarly the only daily routine her one-year-old son who has known the prison cells as his home ever since he was born.
Mideva, together with her boyfriend were arrested way back in 2014 after a police raid conducted at their house in Kibera, on suspicion of being behind a robbery that had occurred in the neighbourhood.
The duo was found guilty and sentenced to life with her boyfriend cum husband being detained at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison.
Mideva says women who would want to give up their kids to relatives are discouraged by the long, bureaucratic procedures involved. The option that remains is just for the kids to grow up being prisoners.