Last year, to mark the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence campaign, LICADHO shared videos highlighting the experiences of pregnant women and mothers incarcerated with their children in Cambodian prisons. Months later, little progress has been made to improve the lives of these women and children. January saw the tragic death of a five-month old baby incarcerated with her mother in Correctional Centre 2 prison.

To mark International Women’s Day this 8 March, LICADHO is sharing the full stories of three women and their children who endured the harsh realities of Cambodia’s prisons – severe overcrowding, inadequate food and access to health care, scarce contact with their families, and limited time and space for children to play.

Many incarcerated pregnant women and women with children are entitled to release on bail, yet remain in pre-trial detention without access to a lawyer. As of January 2020, 43 pregnant women and 103 children living with their mothers remained behind bars.

LICADHO continues to call on the government to implement the following recommendations:
● Everyone who is eligible should be asked if they wish to apply for bail, especially in cases of vulnerable populations, i.e. women with babies and juvenile detainee
● Ensure that pre-trial detention is used appropriately and as a last resort, in accordance with the presumption of innocence.
● Ensure that proper consideration, in accordance with legal protection, is given to the personal circumstances of all charged persons, especially in cases of vulnerable populations, before making an order for detention.
● Ensure that every charged person has their pre-trial rights and protections upheld including access to adequate legal representation, being correctly informed of the charges against them and knowledge of the procedures regarding the application and granting of bail and the capacity to apply for bail, especially in cases of vulnerable populations. These proceedings should be explained clearly and implemented in a timely manner.
● Prioritise the bail hearings of cases of vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and mothers with young children, juvenile detainees and human rights defenders so that they do not stay in pre-trial detention for lengthy and undetermined periods of time.

MAKARA*

Before my husband and I were arrested, we helped each other to earn money. I sold food but I earned very little. I followed my husband until we were arrested while I was working as a dishwasher in a small house in my hometown. At the time, I was not using drugs. I have four children. After I was arrested, my baby lived with me in prison and my other three children lived with my mother.

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Life in Prison: A Mother's Story

I was one month pregnant when I was arrested. I only found out I was pregnant when I was in prison, I was really worried about my baby. I felt disappointed. I wanted to be released as soon as possible but I couldn’t be and I didn’t know what to do. I gave birth after being in prison for eight months. When I was released, my baby was over one year old. The hardest things that I was always worried about were food and my baby’s health. It was hard for me to live there, and I felt depressed and wanted to commit suicide.

I was in pre-trial detention for eight months. I didn’t have a lawyer at any time during my pre-trial detention or trial. Although I had a baby, the court sentenced me to two years’ imprisonment. If I didn’t have my baby, I would have accepted the conviction. It caused both my baby and I to live a miserable life in prison.

When I was about to deliver my baby, I was not sent to hospital immediately. I was only sent to hospital right as I was about to give birth. No one takes care of you even if you’re pregnant. I was allowed to stay in hospital for a few days. In prison, my cellmates helped me for four to five days. After that, I had to look after the baby and cook food myself because others also had their own children to care for.

I lived with more than 20 prisoners. The room was very crowded because women and pregnant women stay in the same cell. I felt bad when my baby cried and annoyed other prisoners. Some of them were kind and helped each other but some of them were angry and in a bad mood with me when my baby annoyed them while they slept but I didn’t know what I could do.

I never felt peaceful in prison because prison officers often went into the cell and hit other prisoners who secretly used phones. Sometimes they went into the cell to take away old items or clothes when there were too many things or if a prisoner died or left the prison. I was really scared about this. My baby was scared by violence and arguments among the other prisoners.

We were permitted to go outside the cell every day for two hours in each the morning and afternoon for exercise, cooking, washing and taking care of our children. Some days I had enough nappies, and others I didn’t. I washed them and other clothes during the break outside the cell. Sometimes I did laundry for other prisoners in exchange for washing powder or money to buy food for my baby.

During the time outside, my baby played with other children. Sometimes I left her alone because I had to cook. When returning to the cell, sometimes she would play with other children, but mostly she cried. I comforted her, but she always wanted to stay outside with space to play.

After I was sent to prison, my mother had to support all of my children who were living with her. She visited and brought me some food, medicine and money once a month. I feel very bad for my mother. She faced a miserable life because she had to help me and my children. I would like to give my gratitude to my mother for encouraging and supporting me when I was imprisoned.

I had to cook for myself because I couldn’t eat the food provided by prison officers. They provided the same meal every day, and some days the rice was not properly cooked so I couldn’t eat it. I needed to breastfeed my baby. If I didn’t receive sufficient food, I would not be able to adequately breastfeed, and my baby would be skinny and weak.

No one could care for my baby when I was cooking, so I carried her with one arm and cooked with the other. There was no shade for us while cooking, which took a long time. Sometimes we paid to get proper food if we had money. Other times, we shared food from our families with other prisoners. I also got additional support from an NGO, such as rice, food and nutritious milk for my baby. It had adequate nutrition for both mothers and children. If they didn’t provide that support, I don’t know how hard my life would have been in prison.

When my baby was first born, prison officials took us to get vaccinations. After that, the prison officer didn’t regularly send her for vaccinations. Sometimes it was four or five months past the vaccination due date, but they didn’t send her to hospital even if she got sick or I asked many times.

When my baby got sick I would get sad and nervous. I asked the doctor and prison officials to treat her, but no one cared. I was worried that she might have dengue fever and I wanted them to test for it. She got sick a few times with fevers, coughs and sore throats. They rarely gave medical treatment or sent us to hospital. Instead, we just had to wait until we got better. Even for a serious illness, prison officials only gave her paracetamol. They gave adult strength paracetamol to children.

Some prisoners had enough money for better treatment for their child, but others struggled to get treatment. I got some money from other prisoners to buy medicine. When my baby got sick for over four or five days, I was really worried about her symptoms. I don’t know what would have happened if my mother didn’t buy medicine for her.

During imprisonment, I had to make an agreement if I wanted to visit my husband who was also in prison. I was only able to visit him from afar, and I couldn’t see his face clearly. Sometimes prison officers dragged me out while I was visiting him. Sometimes they rejected my requests to visit.

I experienced so many miserable things. I never felt good. It made me feel so depressed that I almost wanted to commit suicide.

My baby had never been outside prison before our release. She was one-and-a-half-years old. Afterwards, she was very affected. She was born in a bad atmosphere and became skinny and weak. After leaving prison, she was still scared and didn’t want to eat anything besides breast milk. She is nervous when she sees something she has never seen before, like motorbikes.

Now I’m living with my three children and another is living in my hometown. Only one of them goes to school. I want to have a job such as selling some goods and a house, however I haven’t been able to.

I know what prisoners face and how hard it is. Even women with children are not treated well or receive adequate nutrition. It was really difficult and upsetting to be a mother in a prison. It changed me and I never want to hear about the prison anymore.

Now I am released, so I would like to propose that the government provide enough support to prisoners, including meals. It really affects their mental health, especially prisoners who are pregnant and their children. I would like to ask the court to provide justice and the government to support prisoners to have better living conditions.

KANHA

When I was arrested, I was worried that nobody would take care of my child – my baby was just one year old. My mother had to take care of my child at home, and also try to support me in prison. She has a difficult life too – she works at a factory. Even though she was sick, she still tried to find money to support us.

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Life in Prison: A Mother's Story

When the police arrested me, I was selling drugs to buy milk for my baby. It wasn’t enough, but I didn’t have an ID card, so I couldn’t find a job. It wasn’t until after I was arrested that I found out I was pregnant again. I was so scared.

If my family was better off, I would have asked the police to release me. But we didn’t have enough money – it would have cost more than $1,500. After four or five days, they sent me to prison. That’s when I realised I was already one month pregnant.

After that, I was in pre-trial detention for maybe eight months. I had a defence lawyer from an NGO. He helped me to appeal the conviction. In the end, the court sentenced me to two years.

The first room I was sent to was so narrow and crowded. There were more than a hundred prisoners crammed into one cell. The only way we could all fit was if we slept on our side. It was so hot, with so many mosquitos. There was no air. We couldn’t even turn around.

Two weeks after my pregnancy test, I was moved to the prison’s medical building. This time I was in a cell with 20 other women and children. Children slept in their mother’s arms to make more space to sleep. Sometimes the other prisoners slept too deeply and rolled on top of my baby.

A lot of the prisoners didn’t have enough money to pay for electricity and water, so they were forced to sell the food that NGOs gave us – even if it meant they had no food for their children. After I gave birth, I breast-fed my baby. When my baby was six months old, I couldn’t nurse her any more. The food I ate every day wasn’t enough to help me produce breast milk. I fed her condensed milk, because I had no money to buy powdered milk. She was so thin – she wouldn’t put on any weight.

Sometimes she was so hungry, but I had nothing to give her. So I sold some of the supplies given to us by NGOs just to get money to buy food for her. But I couldn’t feed her until the prison guards gave it to us.

My mother always helped me. She tried to find milk for my baby, and sometimes she borrowed money because she hadn’t received her salary yet. All of her salary went to us.

I felt so sorry for my baby. I worried so much whenever she got sick. When I asked for medicine, they only gave me some pills and liquid Paracetamol, but it did nothing. They wouldn’t send us to the hospital unless we were very sick. One time, my baby had diarrhea for four days.

When I ran out of nappies, I would have to clean her up if she peed while we slept. Sometimes, when I forgot to wipe it up while she was sleeping, the urine would burn her bottom. It gets so hot inside the cell. When it happened, it made my baby cry a lot.

When I was finally released, my child was so afraid of the outside. For the whole first month, she cried whenever she saw a motorbike or cars going by. After I got out, I dreamed of earning enough money to build a house to live together with my family. I dreamed of sending my child to a better school, and getting a good job.

I’m working in a factory with my mother now. I work hard to support my family. But it’s still hard.

VICHEIKA

Before I was arrested, I lived with my mother and my siblings. I was three months pregnant and already had another child when I was arrested and sent to prison. My child lived outside the prison with my relatives. I was in pre-trial detention for six or seven months. I didn’t know I could apply for bail and thought it was impossible, but I was wrong. I was assigned a lawyer from an organisation and they came to meet me during my pre-trial detention. At the trial, I was convicted of a drug offence and sentenced to two years in prison. My lawyer helped me to reduce my sentence because I was pregnant. It was difficult for me being pregnant in prison because I couldn’t get pre-natal health checks or ultra-sound scans. After my trial, I delivered my baby in the hospital.

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Life in Prison: A Mother's Story

After I delivered my baby, I decided to keep him with me in prison because I wanted to raise my baby myself and I didn’t want him to live outside the prison without being cared for. Inside the cell, we only had a one metre space to keep our baby’s belongings and to sleep. It’s not the same as when we are at home. Prison is not like home. It was more difficult when the babies were able to crawl and play and cry. The babies cried and wanted to play outside the cell, especially when it was morning or afternoon. I pitied my child, because he should not have been there with me. Babies need fresh air outside the cell, enough supplies and nutritious food. The prison couldn’t provide these necessities.

My family visited me once every month but they couldn’t come more often because it was difficult for them to do so. They would bring me nappies, powdered milk and food but I was not allowed to keep all of the food that my family brought me. It was only when an organisation provided me with daily fresh food, including meat, fish, vegetables and baby porridge packets that my baby and I had enough food. For clean water we either had to buy the drinking water sold in the prison or boil water using a pot the organisation gave us. For clothes and nappies, the organisation had a schedule for when they could provide us with these materials. If we used more than they provided, then we would have to ask our families to buy them for us. I had enough, but the prisoners who didn’t get support from their families didn’t have enough for their babies.

There were a few toys and a bit of space for my son to play. Sometimes I would take him to the daycare centre, where they had a playground with some toys and a place for the children to sleep. When we brought the babies back, they cried and didn’t want to go back into the cell. They wanted to play outside. Sometimes, some babies would have trouble falling asleep and they cried, waking other sleeping babies. It was difficult and uncomfortable for all the mothers in the same cell when a baby cried at night.

When my son got sick, he was treated in the cell by the prison doctors. If he didn’t get better, the prison guards would take us to the hospital. There were two or three times where he had to stay in the National Pediatric Hospital for about a week.

When I lived in the prison, it was very difficult. Now that I have been released, even though I am a bit exhausted, I have freedom. I feel free to eat and do anything I want. I have the freedom to take my child to go for a walk. Even when he cries or gets sick, I am able to look after him.

My son was one year old when I was released from prison. He cried on the way back home. He had never been outside the prison before. My child was different from other children born outside of prison. He was scared, quiet and didn’t play with other children. Now, he has stopped feeling fearful, and has started playing and talking with other children.

Now I live with my mother again, but she is the only person in the family who works to supports four children, including me. I don't have a job because I am eight months pregnant, so I stay at home doing housework and looking after my child. My first child lives with my husband, who I divorced after being released from prison. After I deliver this baby, I will look for a job to earn money so I can raise my children and send them to school. I dream of opening a small business at home because If I go to work I will not have time to take care my children. But if I have a business at home, I will get to spend more time with my children.

I would like to request the government to prioritise the trials of pregnant women and mothers and reduce their sentences, because they also want the chance to change and to look after their children. The children haven’t committed any crimes. It is very difficult for children to live without mother and it is very difficult living inside the prison cell. I would like to request the court reduces the sentences or grants bail to pregnant women and mothers in prison.

*All names have been changed to protect identities

MP3 format: Listen to audio version in Khmer