What Life Is Like For Children Who Are Raised In Prison

Serving time in prison can be challenging on its own, but imagine what it’s like for women who raise their kids there. Countries around the world allow women to keep their kids by their sides while they serve time. The United States has just a handful of prisons with programs that permit inmates to raise their babies and toddlers on the inside. However, a study revealed 33 percent of mothers separated from their babies return to prison, while those who keep their kids had only a 10 percent return rate. Looking at both the positives and the negatives, here’s what it’s like raising a child behind bars.

Little Nicole Spent Her First Two Years In Jail While Her Mom Served Time For Selling Drugs

A photographer named Carolina Camps captured the lives of women and their children in prison. One inmate named Sandra Valdez lived with her eight-month-old daughter Nicole in Unidad prison in Los Hornos, Argentina. Valdez was sentenced to two years in prison for selling drugs. She raised Nicole there until she was released. Camps first visited Valdez in 2007 and then returned over a decade later to check up on her and Nicole. Valdez currently resides in Buenos Aires with her boyfriend and has nine children from three different relationships. She receives welfare to take care of her three youngest kids.