This is where mom lives now

In Europe, children sometimes end up in prison. Not because they have done something wrong, but because they are the (unborn) child of a convicted or accused woman.

The prison of Bruges has a special ward where young children can live with their imprisoned mothers. It looks a bit like a run-down nursery. The seven dwarfs are painted on the wall. There are children's baths and nursing pads. You can hear the crying of babies and the babbling of toddlers echoing through the corridors. There is an inner courtyard with play equipment and a bench to rest.

Both mothers and prison staff do their best to put the welfare of the child first. In doing so, they are guided and advised by specialized authorities. But you cannot avoid the high fences, steel doors and windows with thick bars.

The day the children turn three, they have to leave the prison, even if the mother has stay behind in the prison. And every day that that third birthday approaches is a day closer to the parting of mother and child.

In the podcast series ‘Hier woont mama nu’, Wederik De Backer and Katrin Lohmann take the audience behind the walls of the mother-child ward in the prison of Bruges.