When Violet Akingeneye, 36, was convicted of embezzling funds in court and told she was going to Muhanga Prison, she had no idea she was pregnant. Formerly known as Gitarama Prison, the 49-year old facility is located along the Kigali-Huye Highway, on the peripheries of Muhanga town in Muhanga District. It is about an hour drive from Kigali. Akingeneye was sentenced to 10 years in prison, a period she couldn’t believe she would complete alive. But that was before she was found pregnant on her first day, after a medical examination was done to examine how healthy she was before she was checked into the facility. This is a standard practice. “I was three weeks pregnant. It was hard for me to accept at first, but the doctors talked to me and promised to help me throughout my pregnancy, just like they help all pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, and that nothing would go wrong,” Akingeneye said. Indeed, a pregnancy in prison was worrying, given that inmates only have one meal a day- a mixture of corn, beans and greens- in the afternoon. They also have a cup of sorghum porridge in the morning. But this is only the feeding part. She was now going to stay with people she didn’t know, leaving her other 3 children and husband. Her now 17 months old son looks healthy and neat. He goes with other children who are aged three and below to the prison’s Early Childhood Development Centre (ECD) put in place to facilitate the observance of children rights in Rwanda, where a child under 3 should be provided with ECD services. At 11:00am when The New Times visited the centre, about a dozen children were reciting their body parts in English, repeating after their teacher who was wearing an orange dress- Rwandan prison uniform for convicted inmates. One of the children in the class, Muteteri, was dozing, and the teacher seemed to be relying on her voice a lot. Apparently, she was exhausted and wanted to go back to her mother. Another elderly inmate carried one of the babies- a two-year old, on her hip without putting her down no matter what. Her mother had just been admitted into the prison two weeks before, so the baby didn’t know anyone else there. She would cry even when one waved at her, but she would soon get used, because her classmates are the only friends she will have for the rest of the year until she goes back to her family, leaving her mother in prison. “I am glad we have an ECD here. I am now sure that when he leaves prison and goes to school with other children, he will be on the same level of education as his agemates. Going to school helps him get used to other children and be confident,” Akingeneye said. Besides education, children, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are given special care in terms of feeding. They are provided with SOSOMA nutritious porridge, milk, eggs, meat, and other nutritious meals throughout the day. This, prison officers claim, encourages mothers to breastfeed their children hence no cases of malnutrition. Senior Superintendent of Prison (SSP) Jean Pierre Olivier Bazambanza, the prison’s Chief Warden explained to The New Times that children are provided with ECD services to also give them time away from their mothers, so that they (mothers) can also get time for their own personal activities, or even hold adult conversations with their fellow inmates. “Their school starts from 8:00 AM and ends at 12:00 PM. The teachers are selected based on their expertise and conduct,” Bazambanza said. Akingeneye’s son will go to live with his siblings and father when he turns three years old, but his mother is not worried about his life then. “I want him to grow up with his siblings. It makes me happy that he will be able to live with other children even when I am not there,” Akingeneye said.
