Fear of Life After Prison

Continuing from a previous blog post, where I highlighted the necessity of a follow-up program for children upon their release ...

I have started interviewing kids again with the help of Onisca. She has kindly agreed to translate the Sakalava dialect into standard Malagache, which I am more familiar with.

What weighs most heavily on the minds of these kids is the uncertainty of life after their release.

"What will I do when I get out? I don't have money, I don't have a family to welcome me home, I'll be completely alone with no support."

I find it sad to witness children being afraid of life after prison.

Below is a short clip of an interview with one teenage boy. Even if you can't understand his words, hearing his voice might make the experience more relatable.

“So what brought you to the prison?”

“Breaking and entering.”

“When my parents split up my father didn’t want me to live with him, so I went to live with my mother. Then she couldn’t support me and I went to live with my grandmother.”

I asked about his schooling.

“I haven’t been to school.”

“You haven’t been to school at all?”

(Onisca) “No. He doesn’t know how to read and write.”

(Tamar) “But there is a teacher here, no?”

(Onisca) “Grandir Dignement engages a teacher everyday for the kids. So little by little he is learning how to read and write.”

(Tamar) “Is there anything else you want to share with us?”

He talks and Onisca translates into standard Malagasy.

(Onisca) “He is worried about his future. His father is no more and he doesn’t know where he will go.

(Tamar) “Don’t you have other family?”

(Onisca) “He has family but they never visit him. From my experience what this means is that after he leaves, there is a good chance that he will do mischief again and end right back here.”

Sigh.

If you would like to read more stories, I have created a separate section for you. https://www.zazatany.org/stories-3-1