A specialized center called “Mother and Child House” started to work at the Penitentiary No. 16 in Pruncul. It will provide social and medical assistance services to pregnant women and women with children held in the penitentiary. There, they will be able to spend more time with their children in an environment similar to that from outside, Info-Prim Neo reports. The center includes a medical office, a storeroom, a playing room for children and five bedrooms with two places each. Every room incorporates a kitchen, shower and toilet. A yard for walks was set up in front of the house. “The female prisoners are a vulnerable group of persons, while the mothers with children are particularly affected by the rigors of a prison. Today, these women are offered the possibility of felling the joy of freedom, regardless of their social status and the gravity of the offence,” Minister of Justice Vitalie Parlog said at the inauguration of the center. The UNICEF representative to Moldova Alexandra Yuster said that the opening of this house is an important step towards ensuring the observance of the rights of the children living in jail together with their mothers. “The children should not be affected by the situation of their mothers. Conditions were created for the babies not to be separated from their mothers. Children’ rights are the only basis of UNICEF and we are always ready to lend a hand,” Alexandra Yuster said. The project is supported financially by Caritas Switzerland, Caritas Luxemburg, Leopold Bachman Foundation, UNICEF Moldova, the Embassy of Germany in Chisinau and the Ministry of Justice of Moldova.