Prisoners in Macedonia Struggle to Reintegrate Into Society

by Natasha Dokovska
– Macedonia –

“…Even after getting out of prison I’ll be on the streets again…”

“I’ve been in prison already seven months and ought to serve my 36 months sentence. I was convicted for prostitution…I can’t believe what I’m charged for! Those people who charged me, have they asked themselves how would I have lived if I hadn’t been a prostitute? Well, this is my own individual choice: to earn money and to enjoy! When I come out of prison I’m still going to do the same job…”

These are the words of a 20-year old female prisoner. She is one of about 50 women at the Idrizovo prison in the Macedonian capital, Skopje. Her story is similar to the stories of the women who share their days in prison with her, or as she refers to them—her colleagues. But, unlike the others, she doesn’t give up. She speaks out all the time. Her temper is high-spirited and she craves activity. But, unlike her, most of the women prisoners are introverted; they don’t want to talk much, don’t like visits, and don’t believe strangers.
They simply don’t trust anyone.

According to the statistics, most of these women prisoners are convicted for prostitution and drug smuggling. There are women from all ethnic groups and none of them are over 30. As our host-prisoner says: they are all one now—a former manager and a former hygiene assistant, together they now clean the toilet. Now they are all together 24-hour hours a day, sharing both the good and the bad.

There are also women here convicted for financial crimes, family crimes, for murdering their husbands. Some of them are former managers of public enterprises. Even juvenile offenders are being placed at Pepeneen-Idrizovo. Dressed in the same uniforms and having the same duties, these prisoners ask for help so they may be returned to society.

They often ask themselves what they will do when they get out of prison and whether they will be welcomed or accepted by society or even by their own families. One of the temporary residents in Idrizovo speaks with tears in her eyes: “Where will I go in two months when I’m getting out of here? I’ve got nothing. I’ve lost everything. My children haven’t come to visit me [for] 5 years because my husband’s family won’t let them. They have forgotten that I killed their father to save them from the constant violence provoked by him. He was beating us every day and my children spent many days in [the] hospital having got black shiners…now I have no job because I don’t believe that my previous employer is going to ask me to return there. I’m totally lost.”

The report by the Consul of Europe describes the conditions in Macedonian prisons as very bad. At the Idrizovo prison, they don’t care about the prisoners, especially not about their re-socialization into society. That’s just not what Macedonian prisons focus on, even though sociologists and psychologists work in the rehabilitation offices of the prison. They are not enough and they can’t care for all of the prisoners.

Lot of prisoners ask for the psychologist’s care. But here it’s very difficult to get in given the demand. There’s only one psychologist for all of the prisoners, both male and female, says our host-prisoner. Psychologist Victoria Vujovik says that in this prison, one doctor must care for 100 prisoners, even though European standards require a ratio of one doctor for a maximum of 30 prisoners.

In the last few months, one women’s movement—UWOM (Union of Women Organizations in Macedonia)—started to work on the socialization of women prisoners. UWOM focuses on aiding the women in the process of being reintroduced into normal life so they begin to understand and positively cope with the differences between life in prison and life on their own.

Members of the NGO have been visiting the prisoners, talking with them, consulting them, and responding to some of their needs. They have donated books for a prisoner’s library, drawing supplies, and the materials to make handicrafts. Recently, the minimum-security women prisoners were guests at the theater of Turk Drama where they watched a performance on the socialization of women prisoners in Turkish prison. Now, the artists from this theater will perform at Idrizovo for the other prisoners.