A Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) has raised the alarm that 15 babies were currently languishing in the Umuahia Federal Prisons in the Abia State capital, South East Nigeria, alongside their incarcerated mothers.

The group, Child Rights Advancement and Protection Initiatives (CRAPI), disclosed this yesterday in Umuahia. It expressed worry over the increasing number of children born and nurtured in prisons and its inherent dangers.

Coordinator and Founder of CRAPI, Mrs. Ozioma Patsy Onyenweaku, at a news briefing entitled “Babies in prison, why?” explained that the oldest of the babies was two years and three months old while the youngest who was circumcised last week, is 14 days. They were all born in the Umuahia prisons. The 16th birth is being expected, she said.

They female prisoners who gave birth to these babies, according to her, are all awaiting trial, with one of them spending more than two years. They are being held on charges of child trafficking.

“The 15 babies are being nursed there (prison) with no provision made for their feeding and welfare because it was not contemplated that babies could be born in prison. These babies and their mothers are at the mercy of the irregular visitors with donations to the prisons. No facilities, no toys and no playground for the babies. The babies are left to contend with the dull and tight faces of their mothers who are depressed over their lot in life.”

Mrs. Onyenweaku, attributed the development to incarceration of pregnant women, pointing out that children brought up in the prison environment may grow up to terrorise society.

Onyenweaku who is advocating the creation of a special family-like Mothers Centre for imprisoned pregnant women and nursing mothers in Abia State in particular, and similar facilities nation-wide, noted that ending the sight of babies in prisons depends on implementation and enforcement of the Child’s Rights Law as permitting births and nursing of babies in prison was a violation of the child’s right to dignity, liberty, family and private, right to life, right to survival and proper development.

Lamenting on the plight of the babies, Onyenweaku said: “Today, without the capacity of committing any crime, babies are becoming the greatest number of inmates of the female prisons.”

She added: “This is because pregnant women and nursing mothers are becoming the fastest growing segment of the female prisons. Most of the women get into the prisons with early pregnancies as early as one month.

“They are allowed to carry their full pregnancy term in prison, give birth in prison and nurse their babies in prison, while some of these women have their babies as young as two weeks old clutched to their chests when they are arrested and incarcerated.” She described as “cradle injustice,” punishing babies for an offence they did not commit and were not capable of committing.

The rights activist pointed out that the deplorable condition of the prison puts the pregnant woman in distress while a distressed mother-to-be impacts negatively on the unborn baby and threatens the survival, physical and emotional development of the child.

Mrs Onyenweaku, also a legal practitioner, asserted that a “child born in prison is denied his infancy and is given, from day one, an opportunity to learn hate, violence and all other vices,” and wondered the kind of future that was expected of such a child.

According to her, such victims may grow up to be rebels and terrorists who feel they have a score to settle with society for the deprivations they suffered. “Are we not paving the way for such negative consequences by allowing babies to be born and nursed in prison,” she queried, adding: “It is wicked to harm an innocent person but the most wicked thing is to harm a child. How colossal the wickedness when the innocent is also a child. The sight of babies in our prisons shames our sense of decency and strips us of our dignity as a nation.”

She called on the Chief Judge of Abia State to ensure the creation and maintenance of efficient family courts to handle cases involving children. The CRAPI Coordinator also enjoined the Chief Judge and the Abia State Ministry of Women Affairs to ensure that the children were cleared from the prison as the laws of the land forbid a baby being born or staying in prison with the mother.

•Photo shows CRAP Coordinator, Ozioma Patsy Onyenweaku.