Russian Prisons Contain 526 Mothers with Children under Three

There are currently 526 mothers with children under three years old in Russian prisons. As a Rosbalt correspondent reports, this was announced yesterday at a press conference devoted to the beginning of the national awareness campaign Christmas behind bars by Deputy Manager of the Prisoner Education Department of the Russian Justice Ministry Vitaly Polozyuk.

He pointed out that women have the right to have children under three years old kept in the same prison. However the children live separately in special houses and only see their mothers once or twice a week. 'We are currently carrying out an experiment in one of the prisons in Mordovia: 14 mothers are living together with their children. We very much hope that this will work out well as, after all, these children are not to blame for the situation,' Mr Polozyuk added.