The rights of the children of the convicts/prisoners obliged to stay in women's prisons in Turkey: The case study of Bakırköy Women's Closed Penitentiary Institution

As of the very beginning of the conception, children have some vital basic needs which are physiological, psychological and sociological. A child has to live dependent on his/her parent until the age of 15. In this period, children whose basic needs are not fulfilled enough are negatively affected, and so their personality development is hindered. There are no numerous childcare alternatives for the children whose mothers are held in prisons. Those children either are sent out of the institution to stay with their fathers, other closed relatives, or accommodated in an institution within the structure of The Directorate General of Child Services. In this study, the problems and human rights abuses of the 0-6 age group's children who are to be obliged to live with their mothers held in women's prisons are explained, within the framework of the practices of the children's rights in Turkey, by examining international conventions and protocols on children's rights, and national legal regulations as well, with the example cases from Women's Closed Penitentiary Institutions in Bakırköy and Elazığ districts. Keywords: Children's Rights, Women's Prison, Children of Convicts/Prisoners, Adalet (Justice) Kindergarten.