{"id":184638,"date":"2017-05-31T19:17:13","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T19:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/article\/a-free-woman-life-after-prison\/"},"modified":"2017-05-31T19:17:13","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T19:17:13","slug":"a-free-woman-life-after-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/a-free-woman-life-after-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"A Free Woman: Life After Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \"\"
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\n Nigar Hezi (Yaqublu) is the daughter of Tofiq Yaqublu, the deputy chairperson of the Azerbaijani opposition party M\u00fcsavat, as well as the spouse of Seymur Hezi, a journalist under arrest.\n<\/p>\n

\n In September, 2012, Nigar Hezi got into a traffic accident; she was the one driving. A relative, who was sitting alongside her in the car, died. Nigar has been experiencing serious psychological problems since her release: \u201cThe adaptation period has been difficult\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Law\n<\/p>\n

\n 2015 was the last time that the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan unveiled the number of women who had committed crimes. According to this statistic, 1,128 women committed crimes in 2015.\n<\/p>\n

\n In many countries there are agencies that facilitate the societal adaptation of people released from prison. And in Azerbaijan there is the law \u201cOn the social adaptation of individuals released from correctional institutions\u201d. In accordance with this law, adopted in 2007, rehabilitation centers should be built, work should be done with former inmates. However, the requirements stemming from this law have still not been fulfilled.Mehriban Zeynalova, chairperson of the Pure World Women\u2019s Aid Association, says that the adaptation process for imprisoned women should begin six months previous to the end of their sentence. And the Ministry of Justice should be interested in cooperating with the NGO in this sphere:\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cAfter time in prison, women can be sent to shelters. There they can spend some time recovering, and then return home to their family. Because of the judgement of those around them, because society pushes away freed women, these people\u2019s risk of relapse is increased. They can commit a repeat crime and once more end up in prison. In order to prevent such situations, these women should go through a program of adaptation to normal life.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"
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\n Psychologist Rafiq Abdullayev says that among convicts there is a low percentage of women. The age of female convicts is primarily 30-50 years old. The average age of sentenced women is higher than that of men.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI always feel judged by the people around me\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Guljahan Aliyeva, who spent three years in prison, also says that she can\u2019t adapt to society: \u201cEven though I served the sentence for my crime, I couldn\u2019t find work again in my profession. In prison, I learned to sew a little. And now I work as a dressmaker in one shopping center. I make decent money. But I constantly feel judged by the people around me. Maybe this isn\u2019t the case, but this feeling won\u2019t leave me. It\u2019s so hard to get used to this life after prison! It\u2019s especially hard for women. The majority of them aren\u2019t accepted by their families. In general, there is little trust towards people who\u2019ve been released from prison, it\u2019s harder for them to find work. It becomes impossible to return to one\u2019s previous life, and you can\u2019t start a new one\u2026\u201d\n<\/p>\n

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\n The story of Samira Mehraliyeva, who was in prison for eight years, is very similar to the previous one. Mehraliyeva is from the north-western region of the country. According to her, she has already been free for six years. But during that time she has, on more than one occasion, wanted to return to prison, because the past prevents her from creating a normal life outside of prison:\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt’s easy for men! If they can\u2019t find work, they go to Russia! But for women, it\u2019s not the case. If people find out that you did time, nothing will help you to recover in their eyes. You will always have this stigma on you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

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\n Mehraliyeva works as a janitor for a company:\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cAnd this work was found for me by the relatives of one of my comrades from prison. Over the course of three years working here I\u2019ve been trying to build a new life. And previous to finding this work, I so often thought about how I might commit another crime! In prison you can at least find a scrap of bread, but I lucked out, there still are good people\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe problem is not limited to society\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n As regards families\u2019 attitudes towards woman inmates, Nigar Hezi says that many of the women in prison have never had a visitor. She recalls the period of adapting to society like this:\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cAfter the wave of guests wanting to congratulate me on my release subsided, I was alone. It was hard for me to go outside. You have relatives and neighbors, but they haven\u2019t seen you for a long time. They look at you with interest. People think, \u2018Where is the woman, and where is the prison\u2019. \u2018If a woman has gone to jail, she\u2019s already finished\u2019 \u2013 and the majority think this way. I think that these stereotypes disappeared when the human rights activist Leyla Yunus and the journalist Hadija Ismailova were arrested. Previous to this, everything was new and unusual for the majority of society. Now I understand that women, like men, can be imprisoned, and can undergo punishment. For a while they called me \u2018the girl who spent time in prison\u2019. It\u2019s hard to live with this\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

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\n Nigar Hezi says that the problem is not limited to society, but that the system must also be changed:\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou cannot simply say to inmates, \u2018your term is up, leave\u2019. They should be prepared months ahead for life after prison. Even after arrest, there should be certain programs. And do they have somewhere to go, somewhere to stay? Nobody is interested\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mehriban Zeynalova believes that NGOs dealing with women\u2019s issues can help them:\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe can help them find work, can give psychological support. Because it is precisely the women who commit crimes that can commit them again. For example, inmates believe that after serving their sentence they will be treated fairly in society. But they very quickly understand that their expectations have not been met. In this case, their psyche suffers. So that this won\u2019t happen, they should be prepared for life beyond the prison bars\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2015 was the last time that the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan unveiled the number of women who had committed crimes. According to this statistic, 1,128 women committed crimes in 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":85596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Free Woman: Life After Prison - MEYDAN.TV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/a-free-woman-life-after-prison\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Free Woman: Life After Prison - MEYDAN.TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"2015 was the last time that the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan unveiled the number of women who had committed crimes. 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