Born in Prison: Child experiences in Kenya’s Women’s Facilities

It will have taken seven years for Biko(not his real name), aged 11, to be reunited with his mother ,for the first time outside the prison walls. His mother has just completed her 15 year sentence and has been released.

Because of the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, he has not experienced the elaborate celebration that marks the release of an inmate and reunion with their child.Instead, he first saw his mother,free for the first time via a video call.

“ I was being given the phone to watch.I didn’t know why. The video call was to see my mother.I was very happy.I was surprised.She told me that I was soon going to stay with her.”

Biko was born and spent his early years  at the Lang’ata Women’s Prison in Nairobi.The Prisons Act Of Kenya CAP 90 provides that ‘ the infant child of a female prisoner may be received into prison with its mother and may be supplied with clothing and necessaries at public expense.However,the child shall only be permitted to remain in prison until he/she  attains the age of four years or until arrangements for its proper care outside prison are concluded.    

The First 1000 Days

Every year scores of children walk into the big environment of Kenya’s correctional facilities holding the hands of their mothers and the four walls of jails become their new home.

There are children who have never known what it means to be  home, not even the cells in which they were born in the institutional correctional facilities, where their mothers are imprisoned.

 WATCH: Born in Prison, A special Report

According to a study released by the Africa Early Childhood Network in April 2021 , on the Status of Childcare in  Women’s Prisons in Kenya:The Case of Langata Women’s Prison, there were at least 250 children in Kenya’s Prison system.

However, lead researcher Dr. George Owino says that the number could be higher owing to the fact that inmates are constantly being brought in and ultimately released from the 43 women prisons in the country depending on their sentences.

“ 300 estimated children in the prison system may seem like a small number but the impact is huge.This means that 300 children will miss an opportunity for optimal brain development. The early three years or 1000 days are the most important days for a child. They require a stable environment both socially and in provision of basic needs for nurturing and responsive care,” Dr Owino further says.

These children neither have the right to choose the environment in which they grow nor do they have the freedom to socialize and acquire the right skills which is the right of every child. In other words, they are forgotten victims of crime and the penal code.

WATCH: Victims of the Penal Code,A Special Report

 5th July, 2021, Officers in Charge Workshop,Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development. In his official address on The Status of Childcare Services in Female Prisons in Kenya, read on his behalf by Winnie Guchu, Chief Administrative Secretary: Ministry of Interior , Dr. Fred Matiang’i, the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government pointed out that children in the system face challenges and difficulties, psychological strain, expulsion from school, economic hardship and criminal activity.

“Without a conducive environment for them it is almost impossible to protect such children in their early stage of development. I guess the dangers of being raised in such a difficult environment,” the statement reads in part.

What Biko Remembers

Biko has few and faint memories of the time spent with his mother in prison.Some of his memories are based on what he has been told.Others are  reinforced by the visits he has continuously made to see his mother.

“I was playing with my fellow children while my mother was washing clothes. I can remember the day that I was baptized.”

What We Know About Children in Prison

To understand the perceptions of children who have not been in system, we spoke to four child actors of Citizen TV’s Zora series.

 Nyabiya Syekei(Lila), 9

“Prison is a facility where people who have committed crimes like stealing and murder go so that they cannot cause any more trouble.If I was to be in prison ,I would feel sad but I would want to be with my mother because she is my mother and she has always been there for me.”

Angel Atieno (Fila),9

“Yes there are children who are born in prison because there are women who go there when they are pregnant.I feel bad for the children who are in prison and I thank God for everything that He has given me.”

Darren Njenga (Pipi), 11

“I didn’t know that there are children in  prison.I wouldn’t want to go there with my mum but if I did, I could feel just comfortable because I am with my mum.Children in prison should be taken out.I want the government to close the prison with children inside.”

Ryan Mwenda Ngoyo (Simba),13

“The kids do not deserve it.It’s not their fault.It’s a situation that needs to be taken seriously.They should be given the right to an education, the right to live a normal life.The government should give children a chance to ensure they have everything they need in spite of being in prison.”

What The Law Says

● Constitution Of Kenya

Article 53

Every child has the right to be protected from abuse, neglect, harmful cultural practices, all forms of violence , inhuman treatment and punishment, and hazardous or exploitative labour.

 ● Bangkok Rules 1990

Rule 49                                                   

Decisions to allow children to stay with their mothers in prison shall be based on the best interests of the children. Children in prison with their mothers shall never be treated as prisoners.                                                  

Rule 50                                                   

Women prisoners whose children are in prison with them shall be provided with the maximum possible opportunities to spend time with their children.

● African Charter on the Rights of the Child

Article 30                                                                           

States Parties to the present Charter shall :

(a)  ensure that a non-custodial sentence will always be first considered when sentencing mothers with children in prison.

Who is Responsible?

The Department of Correctional Services in Kenya is mandated to support children inside prison facilities and give them the best chance possible to grow and develop like their peers. Of the 43 female prisons, only 10 had daycare facilities that are conducive for childcare.

Even though Kenya has ratified international guidelines that govern childcare, there is still need for an elaborate framework that is country-specific.This is critical to address: Good Health, Adequate Nutrition,Opportunities for Early Learning, Responsive Caregiving and Safety.

Financing remains the encasing ball of all interventions.The government allocates Kshs 215 for every female inmate and for Kshs. 410 for children daily. The Africa Early  Childhood Network  report at the Lang’ata Women’s Prison , however,  cited that there are insufficient funds to provide for the essential needs of young children including clothes, medication, food and beddings.

Winnie Guchu, CAS, Ministry of Interior

In an interview with Citizen TV, Winnie Guchu, the Cabinet Administrative Secretary ,Ministry of Interior noted that the Kenyan government is developing a policy on children in prison settings.This process should be complete, at least by May 2022.

“We want to give a prescription of how these children should be handled at different ages and at different stages.That is what we are attempting to do with the policy.”

 A Painful Process of Separation

When a child in prison attains the age of 4, they have to leave the system and be reintegrated into society.  This according to Jacinta Achieng, a social worker at the Nest Children’s home is a traumatizing process for both the child and the mother.

“We prepare the children depending on their capacity to understand. Some of them, especially those who are born in prison do not understand why you are separating them.They cannot understand why their parents are still in prison.” Achieng emphasises.

 Biko remembers vividly the day he left the prison facility for the Nest Children’s Home which operates a rescue centre looking into the well-being of imprisoned mothers.

 “ That day my mother was telling me that I’m soon going to be out.So a teacher came and asked me if I would like to go to a children’s home or stay.I said I would like to go because I saw the car was beautiful so I decided to go. I was thinking about my mother how she will feel when I am not with her. So I was worried.”

Afterwards , he wrestled with the separation anxiety and having to adjust to a new environment.

When I was in the car, I wasn’t feeling anything.I was just thinking how it’s going to be but when I stayed two weeks ,I started crying, thinking of my mother because I have missed her very much.”

To help children cope, the NEST Home which has been operational for 25 years ,organizes opportunities for children to visit their mothers in prison.This is a key part of reintegration which includes family tracing and reconciliation.

“I was being told that she is alright, I was going to visit her.The day I visited her I am free . I didn’t stop to listen to instructions that I was being given She told me that I was free, I was soon going to stay with her. ” Biko adds.

 The prison environment can be very extreme for a child

A child’s reflection of the time she and her younger brother spent with their mother in one of Kenya’s female prisons (Photo: Tony Juma)

A Bigger Problem:No Children’s Office for Prison Children

The legal process for children still remains riddled with significant gaps. According to the AfECN report recommendations, there is need to  review the guidelines to make the process as simple, efficient, and fast as possible so that  there are no delays in the release of children to their extended families or rescue centers when  the need arises to do so.This,  especially when the mother feels so before they reach the statutory age  of 4 years. 

 A  designated children’s office to handle matters of children’s reintegration with society is needed. There is currently no children’s officer specifically trained  for the welfare of the children within the facilities and outside.This is  both in family care and institutional care.As a result,this slows down the process of reintegration. Mothers  may want their children to be freed earlier than 4 years and under such circumstances, the social  welfare officers write their case reports but these need to be submitted to the children’s officer  to handle such matters. Without a designated children’s officer, the process becomes long and  complicated.  Children of imprisoned mothers are not well defined in the Children’s Act 2001. They fall under jurisdiction of the Children’s Department and Prisons’ Service.

The Commitment Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta’s ultimate objective is to transform Kenya’s criminal justice system and make the country a pacesetter in both custodial and non-custodial services in Africa and beyond.

August 3, 2021, The Chief Administrative Secretary, Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government,Winnie Guchu at the Prisons Headquarters chaired a joint stakeholders meeting for children accompanying their mothers in Kenya Prisons Service.

A report on the development of a policy framework for children accompanying their mothers in Kenya Prisons was presented to the participants where pertinent issues on construction of daycare centres in female prisons in Kenya were discussed.Her emphasis was  on standardization of the daycare centres to ensure the needs of these children as well as their mothers are met.

Children with their mothers at the Naivasha Women’s Prison

 “Personally, I undertake to mobilize our partners in the government, the Justice, Law and Order sector so that we work collaboratively and step up our individual contribution towards giving these children a legal opportunity to succeed in life.”

Dr. Fred Matiang’i, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government to Officers in Charge in Prison

5th July, 2021 KICD “I’m here to give you my commitment as a Chief Justice that we are going to ensure that our children are protected.Our prayer is that we will have no children in the justice system.Children belong to homes, to schools, to the communities.”

Lady Justice Martha Koome, Chief Justice of Kenya 3rd June 2021, Kisumu Remand Home I Am Happy Here

“I am happy here.Here we are many and we have so many things to play with.I am happy because I am going to school.I am free.For those children who are still in prison.I’d like them to be free the way I am.They don’t know how outside is.I would like them to have a good meal and have things to play with and be happy.”

 This story was published with the support of Media Monitoring Africa & UNICEF as part of the lsu Elihle Awards initiative.