When the prison affairs officials would pass by in the yard, I’d submit my papers and visit my brother.
And I’d ask my brother to visit me in prison.
This was allowed to people with long sentences.
prison

I was 20 years old when I went to prison.
I kept trying to run away on the first day, and each time Umm Zakaria would run after me and bring me back.
“What’s the matter with you? Will you keep trying to run away like this?”
“They’re going to hurt me in there.”
prison, bullying

Because I did nothing wrong.
I did what I had to so no one would make fun of my orphan son.
I didn’t even forge a birth certificate. I just entered his name into the birth registry.
His parents died in an accident, and I adopted him through social services.
I mean, everyone’s in jail.
prison, social stigma, motherhood

I feel like my children have become uneasy around me because of the time I did in jail.
They don’t treat me like I’m their mother.
“Well, you have been to jail,” my siblings say.
“You act like someone who’s been in jail.”
social stigma, prison

I was released by the 4th night.
I went home, carrying the clothes and stuff I had with me in jail.
I knocked on my family’s door.
I needed to go to the bathroom. I wanted to shower and all that.
prison, social stigma, marriage

I suffered a lot in there.
My mother didn’t visit me for 6 months.
No one but her visited me.
My father visited me twice in 10 years.
He wasn’t taking it well.
prison, bullying, parents, gender violence, sexual violence, addiction

My problem is that I am staying at my ex-husband’s apartment.
After I was released from jail, my children all got either engaged or married.
We told people that their father was a political detainee.
And that I lived near where he was held to visit him and bring him food.
prison, social stigma

At first, I thought I wouldn’t survive prison.
But in fact, the experience made me stronger.
I didn’t need help from anyone.
I unloaded things at the prison gate, worked as a yard cleaner and a cook.
Everyone would tell me that I wouldn’t be able to make it in there.
prison

I used to work at a library, and most of the people that visited were there for public funds.
I never stored things like an apple or a soda for my children when I was in prison.
I had a friend in there who would stash away anything that came her way for her children.
prison, parents

We got out the day before Eid; we had received a pardon.
We woke up in the morning thinking it was just a regular day.
During the sports period, one of the inmates told us that we’d be getting out that day.
prison