AMERICA/MEXICO - The sad phenomenon of children born in prisons from mothers in prison

Wednesday, 4 May 2016 minors  

OEA / SMS Arena Ortega

Mexico City (Agenzia Fides) - Currently there are more than 13,000 women in Mexican prisons and most are mothers. In male and female detention centers of Santa Martha, in Mexico City, there are also 550 children who were born there. This is the prison in which the largest number of children reside, about 110. According to Reinserta un Mexicano A. C. Foundation, 80% of these children live in prisons where there is a violent context and drugs. In 80% of prisons in the Country there is no Child Development Centre or the conditions for a decent life for their age, and when children find themselves dealing with real life they encounter many problems.
Not all prisons in Mexico allow minors to stay where their mothers are detained, and this, denounces the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), violates the right of children to live with their mother. In a study on women prisoners, the CNDH recorded the presence of 51 children in detention centers. The stay is allowed only in the case when a child is born while the mother is serving a sentence. In the prison of Acapulco there are children under 14 years of age living with mothers. In another 10 in Baja California, Chiapas, Distretto Federale, Jalisco, Nayarit, San Luis Potosi, Yucatan and Zacatecas, minors are not allowed. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 04/05/2016)


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