Ajit Karn
Stepnoe: Alyona and a dozen other women are performing in Kyrgyzstan’s only female penal colony, to the acclaim of their fellow inmates.
In prison for murder, drug trafficking, or larceny, the women observe the Nowruz spring festival.
Alyona, one of the finest performers, exchanges her red high heels for sneakers and begins to feed her 18-month-old inmate-born child.
“Of course it’s a holiday, but for me it’s just another day: I can’t be with my loved ones,” she told to News agency.
She is one of approximately 200 women aged 17 to 70 incarcerated in the village of Stepnoe, not far from the capital city of Bishkek.
The captives are permitted to put on a day of performances for Nowruz, an ancient Persian holiday observed in Muslim countries from Asia to the Balkans.
One of the prison officials, Zamira Bekmurzaeva, explains, “We try to cheer people up so that they feel more like free women than inmates.”
Aid them in forgetting
Under the watchful eye of the wardens, bemused inmates observe as the dance performances are followed by grappling matches, a popular sport in Kyrgyzstan.
As prisoners writhe around on a blanket serving as an impromptu tatami mat, shouts and applause drown out the contemporary music blasting from the loudspeakers.
Bekmurzaeva states, “We organize events for every holiday to help inmates forget, if only for a day, that they are incarcerated.”
The prison colony was constructed more than six decades ago, when the Central Asian nation was still a part of the Soviet Union.
The cells lack flowing water and television, and the toilets and baths are located outdoors.
65-year-old Natalya, who has served a decade in prison for opiate possession, has one year and seven months remaining.
She states, “When I was dancing, I was happy.”
“In order to avoid becoming disheartened, I try to remember that my children and grandchildren are waiting for me at home, where we also celebrated Nowruz.”
“Within these walls”
Alyona is pleased that she is permitted to retain her infant born in prison with her.
The young mother lauds the assistance provided by the penitentiary administration.
She states, “We receive favorable conditions and everything we require for my child.”
Initially, she contemplated aborting her child.
She explains, “I was afraid of bringing him into this prison, of how he would live, what he would eat, what clothes he would wear, and other inmates.”
As a single mother without any relatives who could care for her infant, she advocates for sentence deferrals for young mothers.
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She says, “I’ve witnessed mothers in tears, forced to give up their children, sometimes to orphanages.”
If everything goes as planned, she will be released prior to the next Nowruz celebrations.
However, Alyona worries about her son’s adjustment to the outside world.
She says, “My son is afraid of people because he has never seen anyone outside these walls.”
With tears in her eyes, she continues, “He has never seen a car in his life.”
