Authorities ‘ignoring’ children behind bars
Eight-year-old Sokun* spent almost the first seven years of his life in prison.
Unlike other Cambodian children who have the freedom to play and run free, countless hours of his early life were spent in a hot, squalid and teeming cell in the prison where his mother remains interred for human trafficking.
During those early years behind bars, Sokun witnessed many things that continue to haunt him, including his mother cutting down the body of a fellow prisoner who had hanged herself.
Local rights group Licadho, which released Sokun’s story yesterday in an effort to draw attention to the impact prisons can have on children, says that as of July, 51 children were living with their mothers in prisons monitored by the group.
Although the December 2011 Prison Law reduced the age limit of children allowed to stay in prison from six to three, about a dozen children over that age still live behind bars, Licadho reports. …
*Name changed to protect child’s anonymity
Kevin Ponniah and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/authorities-%E2%80%98ignoring%E2%80%99-children-behind-bars
