Ex-Soviet prison where pregnant Bella Culley faces life was slammed for not providing food or clothes to inmates' babies

The Sun

17-05-2025

HORRIFYING details about the brutal prison where Bella Culley faces life have emerged, as fears mount that the teen could raise her baby behind bars.
Tbilisi prison No 5 has been slammed for not providing clothes, shoes or even food to inmates' babies.
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Bella faces a sentence ranging from 15 years to life in jail after she was arrested at Tbilisi airport for allegedly entering the country with 34 bags of marijuana hidden in her luggage.
The 18-year-old from Billingham, County Durham, claimed that she was pregnant in court earlier this week.
The bombshell news sparked fears for her unborn baby, who may be raised behind bars in Georgia's notorious prison No 5.
The ex-Soviet prison has previously been slammed for its grim conditions with a report raising concerns about the provision of clothes, shoes and even food for children on the inside.
The shocking report was published by Public Defender of Georgia in 2015 after a visit to the female-only prison.
According to the report, there were serious concerns over the provision of food for inmates' babies.
Mums reportedly complained about the restrictions on the amount of food provided for children, with just one litre of milk allowed per week.
Some mums even reported having to wait an entire month to receive the correct milk formula for their young ones.
And it's not just food that's cause for concern.
Inmate mums complained about a lack of clothing - especially warm jackets and boots - provided for their babies.
Dad of Brit Bella Culley, who's being held in Georgia after vanishing on Thai hols, shares his fears
This means for those inmates who cannot afford to buy extra clothes, their children are unable to leave the confines of the prison walls.
The mums also complained about a lack of hygiene products, with a meagre two pieces of baby soap every month.
They reportedly only receive small quantities of baby shampoo, baby powder, baby cream, baby oil, wet wipes, cotton buds, and delays in the supply-chain are not common.
And the prison rooms are far from comfortable with no curtains on the windows, disrupting the babies' sleep.
Experts have raised concerns for the unborn child which could spend the first three years of its life in these gruelling conditions.
One source said: 'The prison has childcare facilities but it's clearly not the best place to bring up a child.
'The complications all add to the awful dilemma facing the family.'
And it's not just the physical conditions inside the prison that experts are concerned about.
There are also fears for the psychological well being of the unborn child.
A 2018 report highlighting concerns about Georgian prisons warned that separating mothers from babies was 'very stressful for both'.
It added: 'They require specialised psychological support and adaptation periods that may require weekend release from prison.'
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Eliso Rukhadze, Georgian women's rights defender and lawyer previously told The Sun: 'Bella will be transferred to a hospital to have the baby and then rushed back to prison.
'For up to three years, the child would grow up there and the mom would have unrestricted access to the child - including breastfeeding.
But Rukhadze warned that the child's nationality may cause "complications" in the process.
She said: "The nationality will add complications. If the child is Georgian, and the family is British, they will have to take extra steps to be given wardship of the child.
'It won't be put up for adoption. The child will only be given to members of the family, but it adds an extra layer of bureaucracy.'
Bella's pregnancy has yet to be confirmed by medical checks - but her dad Niel appeared distressed on Thursday as he faced the possibility of his first grandchild being born in prison.
The dad told The Sun: 'I'm sorry - I don't want to say anything.'
The teenager has not yet told her Georgian lawyer how she came to be carrying 31lbs of cannabis and hashish in a single hold bag.
She was arrested within minutes of her arrival on a £550 Air Arabia flight via Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Tbilisi last Saturday following a suspected tip-off.
Bella confided to a source close to the case that "love" was the reason she flew to Georgia.
The source said yesterday: 'She said she was in love and that love was the reason she flew out to the Far East.
'But she has said nothing about why she had the drugs.'
Bella's granddad William Culley, 80, revealed she appears to have spent most of March in Thailand but also spent time in the Philippines with a man called 'Ross or Russ'.
Video clips and snaps show the student holding onto a man as she rides pillion on a scooter and another shows her smoking a cannabis spliff.
Another on TikTok shows her joking about 'Bonnie and Clyde' crime hijinks and is captioned: 'Don't care if we on the run baby as long as I'm next to u.'
But Bella's male companion's face never appears in the posts and he is never tagged - and only his silhouette is seen.
It was unclear last night whether the mystery lover is the father of her child - whose birth looks certain to trigger uncertainty and heartache for her family.
Bella's father and aunt did not appear to have been allowed inside the women's prison as daily visiting times ended at 6pm local time on Thursday evening.
Her lawyer said that it could take up to five working days for them to be allowed in from the day she submitted a formal visit request on Thursday.
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