Prison mothers speak

Prison mothers speak

Advertisement

Half a decade ago, Reuters photographer Carolina Camps photographed inmates in a women’s prison in Argentina, where prisoners with young children were allowed to raise them in jail until the age of four. Last year Camps tracked down four of these mothers, and documented what had become of them and their families. Now, three of the mothers themselves describe their experiences in a Reuters video, published here along with Camps' 2012 story.

Video

Sandra Valdez

Forty-year-old Sandra Valdez spent two years in prison for drug trafficking, but is now free and living with her family and her new boyfriend in a slum on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

She has nine children from three different relationships, including five-year-old Nicole, who she raised for two years in prison until they both left together. Sandra was pregnant with Nicole when she was convicted in 2006 of selling drugs that she had stolen from her sister in law – something she says was a huge mistake, driven by economic necessity.

When Sandra left prison she had to move to another neighbourhood, recover custody of her children and beg to provide food for them. She currently receives state subsidies to help feed her three youngest.

1 / 9

Slideshow

Sandra plays with some flowers with her daughter Nicole at their home in Buenos Aires.
. Buenos Aires, Argentina. REUTERS

Sandra plays with some flowers with her daughter Nicole at their home in Buenos Aires.

Sandra Valdez helps five-year-old Nicole get dressed. Her daughter doesn’t remember her two years in prison.
. Buenos Aires, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Sandra Valdez helps five-year-old Nicole get dressed. Her daughter doesn’t remember her two years in prison.

Sandra washes dishes in her kitchen with Nicole.
. Buenos Aires, Argentina. REUTERS

Sandra washes dishes in her kitchen with Nicole.

Sandra plays with Nicole outside their house in Buenos Aires. In their current neighbourhood nobody knows that Sandra was a convict.
. Buenos Aires, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Sandra plays with Nicole outside their house in Buenos Aires. In their current neighbourhood nobody knows that Sandra was a convict.

Nicole looks at snails on the pavement outside her house.
. Buenos Aires, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Nicole looks at snails on the pavement outside her house.

Sandra sports a tattoo on the fingers of her right hand forming the word "Love".
. Buenos Aires, Argentina. REUTERS

Sandra sports a tattoo on the fingers of her right hand forming the word "Love".

Sandra looks out through the gates of her home.
. Buenos Aires, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Sandra looks out through the gates of her home.

Nicole has her hair styled by her mother.
. Buenos Aires, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Nicole has her hair styled by her mother.

In this picture taken in 2007 when they were both in Los Hornos prison, Sandra holds Nicole, who was then eight months old.
. La Plata, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

In this picture taken in 2007 when they were both in Los Hornos prison, Sandra holds Nicole, who was then eight months old.

Valeria Cigara

Twenty-eight-year-old Valeria Cigara is in jail awaiting trial for her fourth case of robbery. She has two daughters: four-year old Milagros, who was born in prison and lived there with her mother until the age of two, and 18-month-old Lola.

The girls have different fathers, both of whom are prisoners; Valeria met Lola's father while taking Milagros to see Milagros' father in prison. Now both daughters live with their respective paternal grandmothers.

Back in jail, Valeria has problems with drug addiction, and has requested treatment from the prison system. She suffers from Hepatitis C, something that she passed on to her younger daughter.

1 / 11

Slideshow

Milagros' aunt Jorgelina combs her niece’s hair before they both go to visit Milagros’ mother Valeria in jail.
. LA PLATA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Milagros' aunt Jorgelina combs her niece’s hair before they both go to visit Milagros’ mother Valeria in jail.

Milagros plays with soft toys in La Plata, where she now lives away from her mother.
. LA PLATA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Milagros plays with soft toys in La Plata, where she now lives away from her mother.

Milagros looks up at a security guard, who inks her grandmother's fingers before they are allowed to visit Valeria.
. MAGDALENA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Milagros looks up at a security guard, who inks her grandmother's fingers before they are allowed to visit Valeria.

Milagros' grandmother helps the four-year-old to get dressed after she was searched before visiting her mother in prison.
. MAGDALENA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Milagros' grandmother helps the four-year-old to get dressed after she was searched before visiting her mother in prison.

Milagros peers through the bars at her mother Valeria, who is just visible in the very background.
. MAGDALENA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Milagros peers through the bars at her mother Valeria, who is just visible in the very background.

Valeria embraces her daughter when they are finally reunited. She was pregnant with Milagros during her first jail term in 2007.
. Buenos Aires, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Valeria embraces her daughter when they are finally reunited. She was pregnant with Milagros during her first jail term in 2007.

Valeria holds Milagros in the prison visiting room. She says she regrets having raised her daughter in jail.
. Buenos Aires, Argentina. REUTERS

Valeria holds Milagros in the prison visiting room. She says she regrets having raised her daughter in jail.

Valeria shows Milagros how to put on lipstick.
. MAGDALENA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Valeria shows Milagros how to put on lipstick.

Valeria looks out through the bars of her prison.
. MAGDALENA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Valeria looks out through the bars of her prison.

Milagros and her aunt Jorgelina sleep during the journey to visit Valeria in prison.
. LA PLATA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Milagros and her aunt Jorgelina sleep during the journey to visit Valeria in prison.

In this photo from 2007, Valeria sits in her cell in Los Hornos while she was pregnant with Milagros.
. LOS HORNOS, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

In this photo from 2007, Valeria sits in her cell in Los Hornos while she was pregnant with Milagros.

Julia Romero

Forty-two-year-old Julia Romero is serving the last 11 years of her 18-year prison sentence under house arrest. She was pregnant with her son Lautaro in 2005 when she was convicted of homicide involving the death of a minor – a crime she insists she did not commit.

Now that her sentence has been commuted to house arrest, Julia makes her living by selling food and household items out of the window of her home in Buenos Aires. She lives there with Lautaro, who is now six years old, and who spent the first four years of his life with her in prison.

Last year, doctors detected a tumour in Julia’s uterus that they deemed a high risk to remove, and Julia never went back for treatment because she was afraid of the operation. She does not know what will happen to her son Lautaro if she were to die, and even asked the photographer to take care of him if something were to happen to her.

1 / 11

Slideshow

Julia waits for customers to come to her kitchen window, where she runs an improvised kiosk selling household goods. The sign reads: 'Open 24 hours, every day'.
. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Julia waits for customers to come to her kitchen window, where she runs an improvised kiosk selling household goods. The sign reads: 'Open 24 hours, every day'.

This is the house where Julia is serving out the rest of her sentence under house arrest, and where she lives with her son Lautaro.
. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

This is the house where Julia is serving out the rest of her sentence under house arrest, and where she lives with her son Lautaro.

Julia serves a customer through her kitchen window. She gets more business at night, when people are out in the streets and there are no other shops to choose from.
. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Julia serves a customer through her kitchen window. She gets more business at night, when people are out in the streets and there are no other shops to choose from.

Julia smokes a cigarette in her home. When she first returned here after getting out of prison, she found that all her belongings had been stolen.
. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Julia smokes a cigarette in her home. When she first returned here after getting out of prison, she found that all her belongings had been stolen.

Six-year-old Lautero watches television as his mother hangs up laundry. When the two of them first returned from jail and found the house empty, they had to sleep on an old, discarded mattress, found on the street.
. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Six-year-old Lautero watches television as his mother hangs up laundry. When the two of them first returned from jail and found the house empty, they had to sleep on an old, discarded mattress, found on the street.

Julia shows the scar on her stomach from a stab wound she received in jail, after nine other inmates attacked her with a knife. Julia said that she was labelled a “child killer” in prison, and suffered hatred and punishment from the others.
. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Julia shows the scar on her stomach from a stab wound she received in jail, after nine other inmates attacked her with a knife. Julia said that she was labelled a “child killer” in prison, and suffered hatred and punishment from the others.

Lautaro watches television in bed.
. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Lautaro watches television in bed.

Julia sleeps in a bed with her boyfriend Oscar and her son Lautaro.
. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Julia sleeps in a bed with her boyfriend Oscar and her son Lautaro.

Julia presents herself at a police station in Buenos Aires, where she is serving her sentence under house arrest.
. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Julia presents herself at a police station in Buenos Aires, where she is serving her sentence under house arrest.

Julia and Lautaro go to check in at her local police station.
. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Julia and Lautaro go to check in at her local police station.

In this photo from 2007 when they were both in prison, Julia sits with her son Lautaro, who was one year old at the time.
. Buenos Aires, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

In this photo from 2007 when they were both in prison, Julia sits with her son Lautaro, who was one year old at the time.

Silvia Rodas

Twenty-five-year-old Silvia Rodas is serving out a 15-year sentence for robbery and attempted homicide, after being convicted at the age of 19. She has been moved around all the prisons in Buenos Aires province for bad behaviour and now she is being held in the last prison that would take her - Bahia Blanca.

This leaves Silvia some 350 miles from her nine-year-old daughter Anahi, who lives with her grandparents close to Buenos Aires. Anahi was three years old when Silvia was convicted, and lived with her mother in jail until the age of five – one year longer than children are usually allowed to stay with their imprisoned mothers in Argentina. She rarely gets to see Silvia now, because the bus fare for the long journey to Bahia Blanca is expensive.

As well as being separated from her daughter, Silva’s life in jail has had another significant development over the last five years. She is now in a relationship with a fellow female inmate named Yesica, and the two live together as a couple in the same cell.

1 / 10

Slideshow

Silvia lies with her girlfriend Yesica in their shared cell. The two have been a couple for the last five years.
. BAHIA BLANCA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Silvia lies with her girlfriend Yesica in their shared cell. The two have been a couple for the last five years.

Silvia Rodas talks to Yesica, nicknamed Guachin, in their cell. The pair were previously moved around different prisons together.
. BAHIA BLANCA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Silvia Rodas talks to Yesica, nicknamed Guachin, in their cell. The pair were previously moved around different prisons together.

Nine-year-old Anahi holds a yellow rose while visiting her mother Silvia in prison. Anahi rarely gets the chance to see her mother now, and dressed up especially for the occasion.
. BAHIA BLANCA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Nine-year-old Anahi holds a yellow rose while visiting her mother Silvia in prison. Anahi rarely gets the chance to see her mother now, and dressed up especially for the occasion.

Mother and daughter give each other a long hug during their visit.
. BAHIA BLANCA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Mother and daughter give each other a long hug during their visit.

Anahi and her grandfather Carlos share a meal with Silvia while they visit her in jail.
. BAHIA BLANCA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Anahi and her grandfather Carlos share a meal with Silvia while they visit her in jail.

The knife that Silvia uses to eat her meal has the point cut off.
. BAHIA BLANCA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

The knife that Silvia uses to eat her meal has the point cut off.

Anahi and her mother read together during Anahi’s visit.
. BAHIA BLANCA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Anahi and her mother read together during Anahi’s visit.

Anahi and Silvia play together in the prison yard.
. BAHIA BLANCA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Anahi and Silvia play together in the prison yard.

Anahi and her grandfather Carlos sit on the bus while making the long journey to Bahia Blanca, where Silvia is in prison.
. BAHIA BLANCA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Anahi and her grandfather Carlos sit on the bus while making the long journey to Bahia Blanca, where Silvia is in prison.

In this photo taken when Anahi was just four years old and lived with Silvia in jail in Los Hornos, mother and daughter sit together in their cell and talk.
. LA PLATA, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

In this photo taken when Anahi was just four years old and lived with Silvia in jail in Los Hornos, mother and daughter sit together in their cell and talk.

Prison Mothers in 2007

All four mothers’ lives have changed – some more dramatically, some less – since Carolina first photographed them in October 2007, when they were imprisoned in the Unidad 33 jail in Los Hornos near La Plata.

At the time, the medium-security prison held 273 female inmates along with 63 of their children, most of whom were born in jail.

In most cases, these children’s lives were entirely confined within the prison’s walls until the age of four.

1 / 9

Slideshow

Baby clothes dry in the courtyard of the Unidad 33 prison in Los Hornos near La Plata.
. La plata, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Baby clothes dry in the courtyard of the Unidad 33 prison in Los Hornos near La Plata.

Female inmates and their babies share a meal.
. La Plata, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Female inmates and their babies share a meal.

Children's shoes are lined up outside a cell window.
. La Plata, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Children's shoes are lined up outside a cell window.

Sandra Valdez and her daughter Nicole look through the bars of a prison cell.
. La Plata, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Sandra Valdez and her daughter Nicole look through the bars of a prison cell.

Sandra breastfeeds her baby as she watches television.
. La Plata, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

Sandra breastfeeds her baby as she watches television.

A prisoner holds her baby.
. La Plata, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

A prisoner holds her baby.

A baby's crib is visible through the open window of a cell.
. La Plata, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

A baby's crib is visible through the open window of a cell.

A baby's gloves and booties are hung outside a prison cell.
. La Plata, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

A baby's gloves and booties are hung outside a prison cell.

A child walks through shadows in the prison near La Plata.
. La Plata, Argentina. REUTERS/Carolina Camps

A child walks through shadows in the prison near La Plata.