A 'constant wrench': Parenting from behind bars

Children visit their father in a private visitors room at 'Les Baumettes' penitentiary centre in Marseille, southern France.Photos: Nicolas TUCAT/ AFP

Nine-year-old Shadene's face lights up; her father who is in a Marseille prison has just appeared through a door on the other side of the boxy, tiny room.

As he approaches, she stands, reaching to touch the window separating father and daughter. Automatically, his fingertips do the same.