Prison doctors don't care about you. Especially if you are in prison, and not in the zone. You do not work, do not bring them income, you do not sew costumes for cops, firemen. Therefore, they don't give a ***. They do not even care to take
you to the hospital. I had a severe angina, a 39 fever, I could not swallow. I asked the doctor for something for the sore throat. She said:
"Do you have a Maggi cube? Put it in boiling water and inhale steam."
That's what the doctor prescribed me. Now they give some pills at least, analgin etc. And we had only bouillon cubes.
A month later I returned to prison. My daughter was brought in terrible condition after three days. Of course,
the prison child does not need medical care. No one cared about her. And the child can not be brought to the prison hospital, so, we were separated for more than a month.
So, how did I feed the child? I read the cards, I'm
half Georgian. My cellmate expressed milk for me in exchange for card reading. While I stayed in the prison hospital for a month, a watcher of the tuberculosis department was also Georgian. He gave me cigarettes, but I did not smoke. Later,
I changed these cigarettes in the kitchen. With a help of the balander [a chow server], I bought porridge. I strained it through the buttercloth, and fed her this. That's the only thing Karina ate. Sometimes, I exchanged cigarettes for
milk.
We all shared one stroller for walking. There was a courtyard, empty, one bench, that's all. No toys. We walked in turn or held babies in arms. But once the Finns or Germans came to film prison mothers. The prison administration
put everything beautifully. Each of us was given a stroller and baby food, which we had never seen. They took everything back immediately after the foreigners left.
Opposite to us there was a large closed room. My cellmate
was a lock picker, so she opened the locks. Come on, she said, let's see what's inside. She has opened a room, and it was full of food, strollers, children's things. Humanitarian aid. They took it for themselves, to take it out. Strollers,
bags with food, everything was taken by the staff.
In prison, the child lives with the mother up to three years. Then he is taken to an orphanage or by foster parents. Many give the baby away immediately. Because they understand
what it is... The child has been next to you for three years, and then you have to give him away.
When I served, I did not receive any "children's" money. And when I was free, I went to get it. I was told that me and the child
were supported by the state. I answered:
"The state did not give my child anything, not a single bottle of milk."
Doctors? They came once a week, that's all. On Wednesdays. And what kind of doctors were they?
They did not even give us diapers, saying it was bad for children. Allowed one diaper a day, in case the parcel came. There are also no pads for women.