Two-year-old Prerana is in prison at the Palpa District Jail in Tansen. She hasn’t committed any crime. When her mother, Laxmi, was convicted in a drug crime she went to prison with her.

Sushil is three, and he is also in jail with his mother, Balkumari Pariyar. “He has done nothing wrong,” says Balkumari. “I wish I could have left him outside where he can get proper food and care. This is no place for children to grow up.” Sushil and Prerana have no idea they are in jail, even as they clutch the steel bars of their cell.

It is difficult to say which is worse; that the children of prison inmates go to jail with their parents or they remain outside. Maya Pariyar of Syangja got a life sentence for killing her husband last year. She has two children, one five and another six, who are being taken care of by relatives in Butwal. “I haven’t seen them since I was sent here, and I can’t sleep at night because I can’t bear the separation,” says Maya.

“We try to give special care to inmates who are here with their children,” says superintendent Ram Bahadur Khati. “We know there can be deep psychological scars when the children get older.”

When asked what he could do about the babies behind bars, Palpa CDO Sambhu Ghimire told a visiting journalist: “Why don’t you help us find them guardians?” 

Govinda Luitel in Tansen