Prison and Holding Centers
Coordinators and
volunteers visit two pretrial detention centers within Moscow, bringing clothes,
shoes, books, writing material, hygienic items and baby goods.
One of the detention
centers is for women and adolescent girls. Here we concentrate on the most
needy, the mothers with children, teenagers, women with tuberculosis and HIV
positive prisoners. Within the last year, the IWC has provided paint and curtain
material to the mothers so they can raise their children in a nicer atmosphere.
A visit by a dentist and a doctor, was organized, to help HIV positive
individuals, as the medical staff employed by the prison are afraid of the HIV
positive women and therefore refuse to treat them. We continue to provide a
daily school program for the teenage girls so they are better prepared for life
outside prison. Currently, the IWC pays for books and writing material.
The other detention
center is for boys between 11-19 years old. Here tuition is also provided for
the illiterate enabling them to qualify for fifth grade of school. In addition,
the coordinators and volunteers visit several women’s prison colonies a few
times a year, bringing clothes, hygienic items, books, fruit and other items.
The goal for the future of the Charities Group is to continue our monthly visits to support much-needed toiletries for all; dentist and doctors for HIV positive girls; improve the playgrounds in detention centers and supply mothers with baby items; and tuition and educational equipment for the adolescent boys and girls. We also wish to continue to visit the prison colonies outside Moscow on a yearly basis to make life just a little easier for them.
If you are interested in helping with this issue, please contact iwc_charities@yahoo.com