Egypt’s Prisoners of Poverty Raise Their Children Behind Bars

Egypt’s Prisoners of Poverty Raise Their Children Behind Bars

Journalist at Akhbar el-Yom, Nawal Mostafa, currently editor-in-chief, visited Qanater al-Khairia women’s prison to interview drug smugglers on death row one day in 1990. Walking between the grim walls, the laughter of children playing in the prison yard caught her attention. When she asked the prison’s commanding officer about them, she learned they were the children of female inmates. The revelation alerted her to a problem she had been trying…