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At the children's shelter
Imprisoned teen-agers at school
Teen-agers' detachment |
THE CHILDREN IN THE CELL
Life’s
flowers. Fruits of love. I always thought of children this way. I
couldn’t even imagine, that children could be fruits of someone’s
self-interest, recklessness and irresponsibility, and
flowers could grow in cells.
There are more than ten prisons in Belarus – and among them UZH-4 in Gomel is notable. It stands out against the others, as it is the
prison for females. The only in Belarus, which includes the
Children’s shelter, where children of mother-prisoners are kept. As
well here under-aged girls from 14 to 18 serve their sentence.
Prison… This word is
associated with cold, darkness and loneliness. What I’ve read in
“Archipelago GULag” by Solzhenitsyn at once comes to my mind –
barracks, bad food, dampness, cruelty of
warders. But in reality, everything turned out to be completely
different – white walls, asphalt roads, flower-beds, clean bed
clothes, hot water.
The main problem of the
prison is, that it is overcrowded. The prison is designed to give room
for 1200 people, but in fact 2800 prisoners are kept there. In the
cells there are 3-tiered beds, some prisoners have to sleep on the
floor, meals at the canteen are taken in several shifts.
And suddenly among this
overcrowd we see the quiet and peaceful place. It is the Children’s
shelter. It looks like a usual nursery school – the same well-made
flower-beds, sleeping-rooms and rooms for playing, see-saws and
toy-cars in the yard. Here, together with their mother-prisoners, the small
citizens which look at
the world with their curious wide-open eyes, take a walk. And their
whole world is this territory behind the tall fence, separating the
shelter from the rest of the prison. Nothing changes here – the same
faces, the same conditions... Only seasons of the year change. From
the talk with the nurse of the Children’s shelter: - There are 77 children here. They are taken very good care of. Humanitarian aid comes from Germany, Netherlands. Children have everything they need – food, clothes, tableware, toys. Children here are taken better care of, than in some families outside the prison. Mothers visit them often. Certainly, mothers are different. One worships her baby, and the other delivers it and refuses even to have a look at it. There are as well such mothers, which are constantly reminded to come and feed their babies in time. |
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A woman-prisoner gets pregnant at
the meeting with her husband or boy-friend and delivers a baby,
condemning it to live in prison. It turned out, a prisoner takes many
advantages having a baby here – pregnant and breast-feeding women
are given much better food, they can visit their children any time and
are not obliged to work, having a baby is always taken into account at
the time the amnesty is announced. And many children communicate with
their mothers only here; when the mothers are set free, they simply
forget about the existence of their babies. So such children get right
to the orphan-asylum, having stayed in prison without commitment a
crime.
But for the moment they
still have mothers, which can visit them often. Mothers, which
breast-feed babies and play with older children.
And the kids are walking in the yard hand in hand with their
mummies, observing this small corner, too familiar to them.
They still have their mothers. Still… Part
2. Teen-agers.
Last year they had the special school building, but now it is
occupied by the cells where grown-up prisoners are kept. The
teen-agers are kept in the two-storied building, where 3 tiny rooms
serve for studies and actually are called “School”.
Nelly Sayanz, the head master of the school
told us the following: -
The
girls study in accordance with the program of the secondary school.
Studies are obligatory for everybody. There are 7 teachers ( 4
staff-teachers and for the 3 rest it is a combined job) per 70-75
pupils. The text-books are free, though there is a lack of copy-books
and pens. After school the girls study at the technical school (on the
territory of the prison) where they get the speciality of a seamstress.
Studies at the technical school are compulsory, as we want the girls
to be able to get employed after they set free. And here we have the
sewing work-shop, where the prisoners make uniform. Vika
S., aged 18, the 10-th detachment, said: -
I
don’t need to study at this technical school! What for – to earn
800 roubles per month! Don’t I have anything else to do? There is a good library here. It is frequently visited by the girls, as the majority of them do not know what to occupy themselves with having spare time. At the entrance to the library there is a small post-box with the note “Letters to Father Sergiy”. Irina
V, aged 16, the 10-th detachment, said: -
Yes,
the orthodox priest often comes here. And so does the catholic one,
but there are more orthodox believers. My father is an alcoholic, he
used to beat me. I finished only 7 grades. I would like to become a
stylist. And only God helps me.
Nelly Sayanz, the head master of the school, said: - Do they
like to study? No. But some of them would like to continue their
education. And we help them as much as we can. They all are my
children. By the way, today one of our pupils, Larisa Zenkovets from
Soligorsk was set free. I called to her parents0 early in the morning,
so they are waiting. The girls’ rooms are overcrowded too. The place, designed for 8 persons, in fact gives room for 25 teen-agers. Here you can see the same 3-tiered beds. The TV-set, one for all, is in the corridor. The girls can watch it any time. The head of the detachment of the teen-agers said: -
Sometimes
we keep the girls here until they get 21-22 year old to separate them
from the influence of the grown-up prisoners. The girls get spoiled by
them. Now there is no contact between the teen-agers and the grown-up
prisoners. They even have meals at the canteen separately. It’s very
little space here, but the girls have good relationship. They quarrel
very seldom. But different things happen. Sometimes we place them to
the punishment cell, or deprive them of the meetings with their
relatives, but these are extreme measures. They are prisoners, but they are children. They are pleased to be made pictures of, they tell their stories and show their things willingly. They make themselves soft toys – hearts, stars, animals - and hang them on their beds. Tanya Volk, aged 16, the 10-the detachment, said: -
It’s very sad here, I seldom
receive letters. I usually watch
the TV program “Marsovo Pole” and from time to time
put down an address of some
military unit and then send a letter to A Lonely Soldier. Then comes a
reply – and I feel
better. Different girls are there. And the crimes, commited by them, are different. But they all have one and the same wish – to be set free sooner and get home... Lena Kotova and Tanya Sidorenko are absolutely different. Lena, aged 18, from Mozyr, has served 5 months of her 5-year term (for burglary). Tanya, aged 16, from Gomel, has served 1 year of her 8-year term (for the murder of her father). But they have a common dream – to continue their education and become teachers of primary school. Let’s hope their dream will come true. We are leaving and they are waving their hands from the window, seeing us off. They are watching us close the door, behind which there is freedom and life. Epilogue. Maria Mironovich, aged 15, the 10-the detachment, said:
- Do you know what I dream about? – she is leading me to the
window with the view to the new residential area… - There you can
see the supermarket. When set free, I go there and buy a lot of
ice-cream. I’ll eat much ice-cream until I am full. I am so
fond of it… Translated from Russian into English by Nadya Avsievich |
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