‘THE FIRST STEP: MORE PRISONS FOR WOMEN’

Trapped within a system bursting at the seams, they tend to shoulder most of the blame for the ills of a sluggish criminal justice system and a prison environment stuck in the 19th century.

But India’s prison staff, wardens and superintendents say their efforts to make prisons more livable are often stymied by archaic rules that are either overly harsh or silent on rehabilitation, correction and prisoner welfare.

A male superintendent of a women’s jail says most officials are so focused on preventing violence in the cramped, overcrowded spaces that serve as women’s jails, there is no one left to focus on reform.

“It would be a good start to have more women’s jails rather than confining women prisoners to a small room within a men’s prison. A women’s jail allows us to run more vocational courses – cake making, sanitary napkin making. There is even theatre and singing. And because there are no men, inmates get better access to officers for grievance redressal,” he says, refusing to be named because he is not authorised to talk to the media.

Experts agree, blaming an overburdened system for the pitiable condition of inmates – India has just 597 correctional staff (the term used for a prison’s psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and welfare officers) for 1,401 prisons.

“In the absence of adequate staff, inmates are locked up for long hours. This increases the possibility of clashes. By not filling staff shortages and training them, the government is risking the lives of inmates and prison guards,” says Raja Bagga, programme officer at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

Without infrastructure, the jail superintendent adds, even the flu can become lifethreatening. “A woman inmate was once brought in around 10 pm in an ambulance, with a soaring fever. She was rushed to the biggest government hospital in the city, but they refused admission. At 2am, I remember driving across the city, knocking at every hospital’s door, begging them to take the patient,” he says. “We struck luck only at the fourth hospital. Such challenges are commonplace.”