Posted on 04/11/2007 3:56:29 PM PDT by Cardhu
La Paz, Bolivia - Morning sunlight falls on two young girls clapping out the universal cadence of patty-cake. And, like little girls everywhere, when they tire of it, they run off, giddy with laughter, passing a group of boys hunched over a game of marbles.
But this isn't a typical playground. These children are in prison.
Here in San Pedro Prison, 250 children have moved into cells with their fathers who are among 1,500 male inmates incarcerated for crimes ranging from money laundering to murder. In some cases entire families squeeze in – turning cement cells into closets stuffed with beds, clothes, toys, and utensils.
This is Bolivia's answer to preserving the family unit when poverty and crime would otherwise separate children from their parents.
In most cases, the arrangement provides a type of social security that the inmates' immediate families don't get from either their extended families or the state. Without the father working, women must find jobs, not act as caretakers. In other cases, mothers themselves are in jail or have abandoned the family altogether. When whole families move in it's often for moral support, to keep the family together, and because, in many instances, they have nowhere else to go.
But it raises an important question: Are children better off with their parents no matter what the environment is? Or is a sense of family secondary to a sense of safety?
For Filippo Clementi, who is the priest for the prison in La Paz, the answer is simple: A family belongs together – no matter where it is.
"The kids here humanize the prison," says Father Clementi. "The worst family is always better than the best institution."
***
In many ways, San Pedro is a city unto itself. On a recent day inside the turquoise walls...
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
I like the idea. Perhaps if criminals knew they’d have to share a 9x9 with 4 other people, they might reconsider doing the crime. AZ still has the best prison system tho!
Don’t you guys have the cool warden who makes everyone wear pink socks, sleep outside, pup men AND WOMEN on the chain gang, etc?
Nope, bad idea. Prison is suppose to suck, that is why you do not do the crime. Cause the time is suppose to be bad.
How about bad idea because instead of taxpayers paying for one man to live, they now have to pay for the whole family?
Agree completely and all the other liability. It is simply a bad idea using our money which, is why they don’t care.
I am not going to agree with the "always", but interesting otherwise.
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