When dad goes to jail, his toddler goes, too

1,200 children live in Bolivian prisons with father or mother

LA PAZ, Bolivia ISRAEL MAMANI has been behind bars for a good part of his
life all four years of it. It was more than a year ago when Israel's
father, Justo Mamani, was sent to prison for drug trafficking.

With no one else to care for him, Israel went to jail too.

Fortunately for Israel, there are plenty of playmates.

He is one of 38 children living with 1,100 prisoners in La Paz's rundown
San Pedro Jail for men.

Little Israel, his straight black hair combed neatly into place, sucks on a
pink ice cream stick in the cementwalled cell he shares with his father.

His dark eyes, above the high cheeks of Bolivia's Aymara Indians, watch his
father's every move as the man cuts pieces of leather for a purse. Mamani's
makeshift leather business pays for the cost of feeding and sheltering
Israel in the prison, and for the school he attends outside.

``I'm happy to have my son with me, since I have no other family member to
look after him,'' says Mamani, who is serving a threeyear term.

Some 1,200 children live in Bolivian prisons with their fathers or mothers
because they have no other place to go and the government lacks resources
to provide alternatives.

It's a common solution in several Latin American countries. In Bolivia,
where a suspect can wait years for trial, it's something of a tradition.

``It is a situation that dates back many years and that has become a norm
in the main Bolivian jails,'' says Martha Valencia, a sociologist at the
government's office in charge of the country's jail system.

The only jail in Bolivia where children are not allowed and in fact the
only one with the iron bars and security doors people associate with
prisons is the Chonchocoro maximumsecurity prison near La Paz.

In some prisons, entire families accompany an inmate.

Many of the children share a bed with their jailed parent. Others have
their own cot in the cell. The level of comfort depends on how much money
an inmate has or can make.

At the San Pedro Jail, prisoners with enough money live in suites with TV
sets, refrigerators and private bathrooms next door to poor inmates who
must share rundown quarters and bathrooms with their children.

At the 170inmate women's jail in La Paz, 86 children live with their
mothers, the youngest at a daycare centre run by social workers. Health
workers look after them.

The female inmates work in the jail laundry and bakery or sell items at a
small jail market offering everything from food products and clothing to toys.

The government provides only the equivalent of 50 cents a day per inmate
for food, so most inmates work in jail to cover their expenses.

In the highland city of Oruro, inmates must pay for their lodging and some
inmates sleep in open courtyards if they cannot afford to pay for a room.

There have been cases of women known to work as prostitutes to provide
themselves with a room in jail, a social worker says.

Experts say having children in jail with a parent has benefits and risks.

One positive aspect is keeping them in contact with their families and out
of the gangs of street children, says psychologist Jose Luis Harb, a former
head of the national corrections service.

In addition, ``it helps the inmate in his rehabilitation especially
emotional and psychological,'' rehabilitation, Harb says.

In the frigid, indifferent world of a penitentiary, their youngster's
presence is comforting for a mother or father and can help to keep them
from turning to drugs and alcohol, experts say. There is concern about the
effects of a negative environment on a child's development, as well as
about the risks of putting children in close proximity to criminals
including killers and rapists.

``To date, no cases affecting the safety of children have been reported
because the inmates are organized to protect them'', says Vilma Velasco, a
children's rights activist.

For the most part, Israel and the other children at San Pedro Jail have
lives similar to those outside of prison.

Fiveyearold Jorgito Encinas, whose Peruvian father is jailed for drug
trafficking, is considered one of the brightest of the children at San Pedro.

Every morning, he and other young children wait for a prison guard to
unlock the front gate so they can attend classes at a local school.

In the afternoon, they file past a checkpoint where a guard searches their
school bags for alcohol, drugs or other prison contraband.