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JONGLEI – Ajok wakes up at five o’clock every morning. She needs plenty of time before reporting to work, to feed and prepare her child and to make the 45-minute walk to the local prison where she works. On arrival, she has to ask a less busy colleague to look after her little one.

“We don’t have dedicated rooms for pregnant inmates or those who are breastfeeding, including female officers like me. This makes it difficult to care for these vulnerable women and for me to be able to carry out my work while providing the necessary care to my child,” says Ajok, a maternity nurse at Bor Central Prison.

The experiences of Ajok and female inmates in Bor are shared by many women across the country as prisons are usually overcrowded and underfunded.

“One inmate suffered life-threatening bleeding after childbirth. I was helpless because we did not have the medication I needed to help her. We had to transfer her to the hospital, which was also difficult.”

There was no better time for Ajok to share her experiences than during a training on gender-responsive prison services, facilitated by the United Nations peacekeeping mission. 

Sitting in the back row of any workshop is usually associated with an attempt to avoid attention. It’s a different for Ajok, who chose a seat at the back so she could breastfeed her baby in peace.

Despite her commitment to her child’s wellbeing, she couldn’t miss this training, which provided an opportunity for empowerment as well as to transform her workplace.

“We want to help correctional institutions respond to the unique needs of women in custody, because prisons are commonly built to accommodate men,” explained Bajaro Ali Iddi, Corrections Advisor at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (17�Թ���).

To rehabilitate and help reintegrate women inmates, staff need to know how to create a more humane environment.

“Our goal is to align daily practices with both national law and international prison standards,” he added.

“The rights of inmates can only be guaranteed when staff are well trained on how to administer the facilities and appropriately manage those who are detained, particularly in terms of respecting and protecting their human rights. Our vision is also to ensure inmates receive vocational training to gain skills and knowledge they can use upon release,” says Deng Atem Apet, Jonglei State Prison Director.

The training targeted 45 officers including 20 women. Some of the key action points included a commitment by the authorities to explore resource mobilization options to address gaps in healthcare for female inmates and engaging justice and legal actors to improve timely access to legal aid and justice.