Baabda, Lebanon — Nour is raising her four-month-old
daughter in Lebanon’s most overpopulated women’s prison, struggling to get
formula and nappies for her baby as the country’s economy lies in tatters.
“I don’t have enough milk to breastfeed, and baby formula
isn’t readily available,” said the 25-year-old, who was detained eight months
ago on drug-related accusations.
“Sometimes my daughter doesn’t have formula for three days,”
she added, as green-eyed Amar wriggled on her lap.
Lebanese authorities have long struggled to care for the
more than 8,000 people stuck in the country’s jails.
But three years of an unprecedented economic crisis mean
even basics like medicines are lacking, while cash-strapped families struggle
to support their jailed relatives.
Essentials like baby formula have become luxuries for many
Lebanese, as the financial collapse — dubbed by the World Bank as one of the
worst in recent world history — has pushed most of the population into poverty.
A months-long judges’ strike has exacerbated the situation
in prisons, contributing to overcrowding.
Nour said she and her daughter shared a cell at the Baabda
women’s prison with another 23 people, including two other babies.
She said she sometimes kept Amar in the same nappy overnight
while waiting for her parents to bring fresh supplies, but said even they can
“barely help with one percent of my baby’s needs”.
“We all make mistakes, but the punishment we get here is double,”
Nour said.
‘We need basics’
Inmates at the prison, located outside Beirut, spoke to AFP
in the presence of the prison director and declined to provide their surnames.
Around them, in the facility’s break room, paint peeled off
the walls and water dripped from the ceiling.
Rampant inflation and higher fuel prices have also prevented
families from visiting their jailed relatives regularly.
Bushra, another inmate, said she had not seen her teenage
daughter for nine months because her family could not afford transportation.
“So many mothers here cannot even see their children,” she
added.
Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said in September that
Lebanon’s economic crisis had “multiplied the suffering of inmates”.
His ministry has appealed for more international support for
the prison system, citing overcrowding, poor maintenance and shortages of food
and medications.
Prisoners “need basics: shampoo, deodorant, clothes,” said
inmate Tatiana, 32, who has been waiting for a court hearing for nearly three
years.
“But our parents cannot afford them for themselves, how can
they buy those things for us?” she added, dark circles lining her eyes.
‘Absent state’
Tatiana is among the nearly 80 percent of Lebanon’s prison
population languishing in pre-trial detention, according to interior ministry
figures. Prison occupancy stands at 323 percent nationwide.
The country’s already slow judiciary has been paralyzed
since August, when judges started an open-ended strike to demand better wages.
Inmates told AFP they slept on dirty mattresses strewn on
the floor in a one-toilet cell shared between more than 20 people.
Baabda women’s prison director Nancy Ibrahim said more than
105 detainees were crammed into the jail’s five cells, compared to around 80
before the economic collapse.
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