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Sun, 19 Apr, 2015 12:06:42 AM FTimes – STT Report, April 19  Vanaja prison director Kaisa January-Moilanen at a family room in the prison. Photo – Lehtikuva. The family division of the Vanaja prison in Hämeenlinna has been operating now for five years. The family division is the only one of its kind in the world, where a child welfare institution operates inside a prison, its clients the children of prisoners.
The division allows for children, until the age of two, to stay with their prisoner parent. According to the Child Welfare Act, this may be extended until the age of three.
According to researcher Rosi Enroos, in the past, the children of prisoners in Finland were officially invisible, even though in reality, a lot of care was taken for the children in the prisons.
Vanaja prison director Kaisa Tammi-Moilanen says that, in former practice, prisoner mothers just appeared with a newborn in their arms.
Vanaja prison headquarters in Hämeenlinna. Photo – Lehtikuva. There was not even space to mention the child on the prison's internal forms, so the relevant information was recorded in the margins.
In Vanaja's family division, mothers receive support in caring for their infants and with parenting. During the day, family care professionals work in the prison; at night, the mothers take care of the children themselves.
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