Sentenced to four and a half years for robbery and detained in Târgsor, Romania’s only female prison, Cristina has had plenty of time to regret the past.
Her greatest sorrow is rarely seeing her three boys. Receiving visitors at Târgsor is difficult because of its remote location: most people cannot afford to travel here.
There are nearly 1,400 women detained in Târgsor, and they live in conditions deemed inhumane and degrading by the European Court of Human Rights, with worn-out plumbing, vermin blocking the toilets, and poor food quality. There is barely 2m² of living space per person, warned a report by the Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee.
When Cristina was first jailed, she was placed in the second level after maximum security. She said, “It was madness in there. We were 16 women in one cell room. I couldn’t leave the room for 20 to 22 hours per day. I was very depressed and tried to take my life.
“They gave me diazepam and it made it even worse. I could not eat, I got to 46kg (101 lbs), and was very weakened."