"Mga Anak ng Rehas" (Documentary by Kara David)

Episode on November 22, 2010 Monday after Saksi! In 1999 I-Witness aired “Koreskyonal" a documentary which provided a glimpse into what was then a hidden world behind the women’s correctional institute. Veteran journalist and I-Witness pioneer Jessica Soho spent a night in the correctional to document these women’s lives up close. Kara David explored the same prison in her documentary “Selda Inosente" which won the ABU/CASBAA UNICEF Child Rights Award in 2003. The documentary showed the plight of children born to women in prison. After seven years, Kara David revisits the place and finds that the innocent are still literally awakened to a world behind bars. Dayang (not her real name) is in a bind. She has just given birth but, unfortunately for her and her newborn, not in the best circumstance. Child birth is one of the most unforgettable moments in a woman’s life. It brings enormous joy and hope to the mother especially as she nurses her bundle of joy for the very first time. However, Dayang is serving time in prison. Her predicament is one that mothers behind bars face – should one sacrifice her own baby’s freedom to be able to care for the child as a mother? Or should she give up her baby to allow the child to enjoy the liberty of a normal life? In her 2003 documentary, Kara and her I-Witness team were able to document this difficult choice made by two mothers. Today, she searches for the children who were born in prison to find out how their lives were molded by their mothers’ choices. One was taken away to live in shelters while the other stayed and grew up behind bars. What will Kara discover in this reunion? This November, Kara David gives a classic I-Witness documentary a new perspective as she looks at the plight of mothers and the children they bear behind bars.