Highlights:
This trip I’ve been getting to know one of the younger women in our class, Claudia. She’s been in our classes before but has been somewhat shy and not spoken much. Yesterday we had a long conversation about her impending release, which should be happening this month (we hope!).
Originally, she was supposed to leave last month, but there was a problem with her papers. Now, due to the problem, she is stressed about leaving and if something will go wrong again. Claudia is a single mother of a 6 years old daughter who is currently living with relatives. We spoke about how hard it is to be everything to a child, and not just being the primary financial earner, the primary disciplinarian or primary caregiver, but also being both mother and father.
Another thing that came up in our conversation was the importance of having a plan when leaving the prison. Claudia told me, “When you’re in here, you think about every moment outside. Why am I here? What did I do to get here? What can I do so I never come back? I’ve spent a lot of the past few years reflecting on what brought me here.”
She thinks that the reason some women return is that they don’t have a plan when their released- which makes it easy to fall back into drug trafficking. For Claudia, a plan is the most important thing she can leave with. Knowing what steps she needs to take to get to her ultimate goal is what motivates her. She told me, “My plans are going to work out. You’ll see.”
Today I also had lunch with one of the women who was released last year, after 13 years of incarceration, Marleni. She is doing so well! She’s living with her family and daughters, who are encouraging her to travel throughout Peru and rest while she’s away from Ayacucho. She doesn’t like being in the city because everywhere she goes, if people know she was incarcerated, they say, “Oh poor thing.” (and she is DEF not a poor thing).
But, she’s enjoying her trips with her family and alone, spending time with her daughters, and going out to the campo and listening to the rain.
She also told me that after her release she went to Lima for a full medical checkup. There she found out that she has osteoporosis and the doctors think it’s because of the diet and living conditions in the prison. She is now on a year long treatment plan, but still has pain in her joints and bones.
After she received her diagnosis, she called her friend, another women released from the prison, and told her to have a checkup. That woman went for a check up and also has osteoporosis, which explains why right after she was released she broke her arm and broke her foot a few months ago. While we always knew the prison had a negative impact on the women’s emotional and mental health, now we are seeing the impacts on their physical health.
Beyond her physical health (which is being treated), she’s doing fantastically and it was such a joy to spend the day with her!