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In Kyrgyzstan’s only female prison colony, Alyona and a dozen other women are dancing in a small, sunny courtyard to the cheers of the other prisoners.
The women who are serving time for murder, drug trafficking, or theft rejoice at the springtime celebration of Nowruz.
Then, Alyona, one of the finest dancers, changes out of her red stilettos for sneakers and begins nursing her 18-month-old child who was born in a prison.
It’s a vacation, of course, but for me it’s just another day where I can’t spend time with the people I care about,” she tells AFP.
She is one of about 200 Russian citizens who range in age from 17 to 70 and are held in the Stepnoe village prison, which is close to Bishkek, the city.
The prisoners are permitted to perform for a day during Nowruz, an ancient Persian festival observed in Muslim nations from Asia to the Balkans.
One of the prison staff members, Zamira Bekmurzaeva, adds, “We try to cheer folks up, for them to feel like free women and not like inmates.
Don’t let them forget.
The dance performances are followed by wrestling matches, a well-liked sport in Kyrgyzstan, as bemused prisoners observe under the watchful eye of the wardens.
Prisoners squabble and roll around on a blanket that is being used as an impromptu tatami mat as shouts and applause drown out the loudspeakers blasting pop music.
Bekmurzaeva states, “We organise activities for every holiday, trying to help detainees forget, at least for one day, that they’re in jail.
More than 60 years ago, when the Central Asian nation was still a component of the Soviet Union, the penal colony was constructed.
The bathrooms and baths are outside, and the cells have no running water or television.
There are still one year and seven months left for Natalya, 65, who has served ten years in prison for possessing heroin.
I felt joyful while dancing, she claims.
When I start to feel down, I try to remember my children and grandkids who are waiting for me at home, where we also celebrated Nowruz.
As in “Between these barriers”
The fact that Alyona can retain her child who was born in prison makes her happy.
The young mother expresses gratitude for the assistance she has gotten from the jail staff.
“We get good circumstances and everything we need for my kid,” the woman claims.
She thought about abandoning her child at first.
She is an advocate for deferred sentences for young mothers because she is a lone mother with no family to care for her kid.
She says, “I’ve seen mothers in tears, compelled to give up their kids, sometimes to orphanages.
In the best case scenario, she will be released prior to the following Nowruz festivities.
Alyona, however, worries about her son’s adjustment to life outside the home.
She claims that her son is terrified of people because he has only ever resided inside these walls and has never seen them.
With tears in her eyes, she continues, “He has never seen a vehicle in his life.
