Raising a Family Behind Bars

After one of history’s worst typhoons stormed through the Philippines, a decimated jail opened its doors to inmates’ displaced families, inciting the most bittersweet of reunions.

Photos by Lawrence Sumulong

When Typhoon Haiyan hit Leyte Provincial Jail in the Philippines last November, Jean He, thirty-four, was visiting her husband, Roberto Anyou, in prison. As the 200-mile-per-hour winds tore apart the building’s roof and walls, they huddled in the communal toilet, praying.

“We’ve never experienced a storm like this. My parents died two years ago and I was thinking during the storm, Maybe this is when I was going to die too,” said Jean, who was five months pregnant at the time. “The other prisoners helped me get to the [toilet] where we took shelter. I just crouched in the corner, protecting my belly."