Commissioner General of Prisons, V. R Silva

Childcare centre of Welikada Prison:

Oasis in a desert

by Sajitha PREMATUNGE

It's said that when a baby elephant is born the whole herd produces milk. The case between one-year-old Piyumi and four-years-old Dinithi is completely different. Piyumi shamelessly steals Dinithi's milk! And although Dinithi retorts she doesn't really mind. These are no baby elephants. Dinithi, the twins - Piyumi and Malithi and 15 other mothers and their children are the inmates of the newly refurbished childcare centre at Welikada Prison, recently opened by the first lady, Shiranthi Rajapaksa.

It was by accident that Pushpa Walpita, the Early Childhood Development Officer assigned to the Colombo Divisional Secretariat by the Children's Secretariat, got the chance to visit the children of the women inmates of the Welikada Prison. When Pushpa was coming out of the lodging that housed ten of the children, one little girl who was not lucky enough to get separate accommodation with her mother, in the lodging, ran towards her and with a wistful face asked Pushpa "You only go to their home.

Won't you come to ours?" Pushpa was heartbroken. "There were many other children, around the same age as my own daughter - all below the age of five - running around in the compound." It was Pushpa Walpita's yearning to give these children a child-friendly environment that culminated in a newly refurbished, larger childcare centre for the Welikada Prison's women's ward.

The paly area of the child carecentre, Welikada Prison

"The original building has been completely redone, with fans, new beds, pantry, bathrooms, a play area and a newly refurbished pre-school. An old storage space has been stripped away to make space for five extra children" said female Jailor, Kumari Ratnaweera. The grass on the lawn was painstakingly planted and paintings on the walls of the playground were beautifully done by Prison Officer J. G Kumarage with the help of a few other prisoners. Although the childcare centre is accommodated within the prison premises, it is indeed like an oasis in a desert, devoid of the typical prison atmosphere.

The "Experience children gain during their early childhood, which is from birth to age five, affects the rest of their lives" said Pushpa. As she explained it is the time when most of their brain development takes place. And since it is through their environment they gain experience, a child-friendly environment is of utmost importance for the overall development of child. Consequently in their social work Early Childhood Development Officers like Pushpa are taught to pay special consideration to the environment a child lives in.

"Only ten children were lucky enough to get separate accommodation with their mothers" revealed Pushpa. "The other children had to share their space with various other adults from different social backgrounds." She explained that the environment of a prison with its inherent lewd language, facilities and comforts - from a child's point of view - cannot be productive. "Such an environment cannot give the right kind of stimulus to a child."As Pushpa explained most of the mothers were drug addicts. "Our duty is to prevent their children from falling into the same trap.

Push me

There was a girl of the same age as that of my daughter when I first saw the children. Now she has a place of her own with her mother in the new childcare centre" said Pushpa reminiscing.The first stage of the project - which cost Rs. 1.8 mn - will provide accommodation for 15 of the 35 children in the prison. "We also hope to send one of our officers every week to the centre for a few hours to conduct some educational activity" explained Children's Secretariat Director, Yamuna Perera.

"More than 80% of the brain development takes place between the birth and the age of five" said Yamuna Perera. "This is why early childhood is considered very important in our field of work." As she explained, a prison does not provide a productive environment to the children or their mothers who are expected to rear them. "The children are in prison due to no fault of their own.

As an authority responsible for early childhood care and development our main objective was to create a child-friendly environment." She explained that the children will stay with their mothers until they reach the age of five, "after which they are sent to children's homes to begin their primary education." She also said that they wish to extend the program to other prisons as well in the future.

"These children are unnecessarily exposed to the prison environment at a very tender age" said Commissioner General of Prisons, V. R Silva. A feeling that would affect their entire life! "If no other guardian is willing to take care of a child, the child ends up in prison with the mother. There are nearly 50 such cases." The Commissioner General explained that they have made a very strong policy decision to separate these children and their mothers from the rest of the inmates.

Baby and his mother at the centre

Without a care in the world Pix: Iresha Waduge

He claimed that although the childcare centre has made a clear difference, they are still inside the prison walls. "The childcare centre at Welikada is just our first step. There is a lot more to be done" said the Commissioner General. He went on to explain that their next step would be to convert a building that belongs to the Department of Prisons situated outside the prison walls of Kalutara, into a childcare centre that could accommodate 30 mothers and children, with the help of UNDP funds.

"The idea is to let the children spend their day without having to see a single uniform." He revealed that the mothers and their children - irrespective of the nature of their conviction - will be given accommodation at the facility at Kalutara after it is completed.The children at the childcare centre at Welikada Prison are like normal children.

The older kids were even sent for swimming lessons. And we overheard female Jailor, Kumari Ratnaweera say that they would be getting a TV soon. They are all 'flowers' of the Pipena Kekulu preschool, adored and petted by mothers and prisons officers alike. Malithi was eternally jealous of Piyumi and refused to speak to anyone who attempted to pet her twin sister.

Their mother still has three years left of her sentence, which she would spend in the childcare centre. Although these children are oblivious to their plight, for the moment life seems to be rosy, thanks to the generosity of so many who helped to make the childcare centre at Welikada prison a reality.

(Names of inmates and their children have been changed to protect their identities.)