Raghavi* was looking for fresh spinach in the garden in the backyard of the Special Prison for Women, Puzhal. “The key to making sure you get a good harvest is to plant the seeds in alternate rows,” said Raghavi, as she pulled out a few spinach plants from the garden and placed them in her basket. “And if you want variety, you must mix seeds of different greens and grow them between these rows,” she said.
Raghavi is serving a life sentence in the prison after being convicted for murdering a close relative. “What happened in the past has happened, and I have no control over it. But now, I have got a new lease of life. I have always been keen on organic farming. It’s good that I can work on that here,” said Raghavi as she walked towards the kitchen with her basket in one hand, talking to her friends proudly about the quality of the spinach.
There are currently around 155 inmates in the women’s prison, of whom 34 are convicts. As many as 19 are life convicts and around 100 are on remand. The lives of many inmates have changed through the responsibilities prison life brings with it, whether it is through learning reading and writing or being part of the ₹ 40 crore prison industry.
“Definitely, a lot has changed here over the years. We are given more responsibilities and the basic amenities are better. But it would have been nice if availing of the benefits were easier,” said Prashanti*, another inmate.
Judicial intervention
Over the past decade or so, the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court of India, has often come to the aid of prisoners and given directions to ensure they obtain their rights. In 2006, the Madras High Court ordered a comprehensive survey of the women’s prisons in Tamil Nadu, and appointed advocate Sudha Ramalingam as the advocate commissioner. Her report highlighted several issues and stated that many mandatory provisions in the Prison Manual, including basic facilities such as drinking water, closed toilets, medical facilities, education and care facilities for the children of women prisoners were ignored.
Prohibition offences
One of the points highlighted in the report was the alarmingly large number of women, who were in prisons for being involved in prohibition offences. Many of these women, the report said, got involved in such professions mainly due to poverty. The report also noted that all those arrested in such crimes invariably happened to be from economically and socially disadvantaged communities and there was not even a single inmate from a well-off background or forward caste apprehended for such offences.
“These detainees are victims of circumstances and there is no social purpose served by arresting them as they belonged to the lowest rung in the crime chain of bootlegging,” said Ms. Ramalingam. She further pointed out that imprisoning women did not deter bootlegging, as they are easily replaced, and their families were affected and became vulnerable to vice gangs.
“I have been detained for the ninth time here. I do not know any other profession nor does anyone give me a decent job where I can earn and support my family. So I have no choice,” said Andal*, an inmate of Puzhal, who was arrested for selling illicit liquor.
Policy on arrests
The report pointed out that there was a dire necessity to formulate a clear policy on arrest and detention in prison for remand prisoners so that the vulnerable are not harassed. It was also mandated that they be made aware of their rights on availing of legal counsel. The lawyer representing them must help them contact their relatives and help arrange sureties to ensure that those in remand are released.
Recently, The Hindu reported about a woman and her three-year-old, who were languishing in the Puzhal jail despite having obtained bail, as she couldn’t provide the necessary sureties.
It was noted that many a time, jail officials turn a blind eye to injuries inflicted upon inmates at the time of admission and do not provide due medical care. The report talked about the plight of two inmates, who were not allowed to go out to perform the last rites of their husbands. It also highlighted the need to sensitise and pay prison staff properly, as well as ensure their working conditions are improved, as they play a key role in ensuring a reformative framework is implemented in prisons.
There are 18 women’s special prisons in the country with a capacity of 4,748. As per the National Crime Records Bureau Prison Statistics 2015, women convicts constituted 4.3% of the prison population. The total number of women foreign national convicts in the country was 199. At the end of 2015, there were 374 women convicts with 450 children and 1,149 women undertrials with 1,310 children in prisons across the country.
In January 2007, in its response to the report by the advocate commissioner, the then Home Secretary and the Additional Director General of Prisons, referring to the provisions mandated in the Prison Manual, said that “all facilities and amenities are available in the Special Prisons situated in Vellore, Tiruchi and Puzhal.” Later that month, the court, in a detailed judgement, directed the authorities to take steps for the proper supply of nutritious food, clean drinking water and medical care. The court emphasised the need to provide skill education and recreation facilities, which would ensure the effective rehabilitation of prisoners. A senior official from the Tamil Nadu Prison Department reiterated that all the provisions of the manual were being followed.
Skill education
Last year, the 5th National Conference of Heads of Prisons of States and Union Territories on Prison Reforms, was convened by the Bureau of Police Research and Development in New Delhi, and discussed the issue of skill education in detail. A key concern was that women inmates were still engaged in traditional occupations like agarbatti making, tailoring, weaving etc., while men were deployed in modern occupations. There has not been much innovation in women’s prisons, it was noted.
In Tamil Nadu, women inmates not only receive skill training but also help generate revenue for the State prison industry by making sweets and snacks, pickles, sanitary napkins, confectionery items, phenyl and tags. They are also extensively into tailoring. “We provide the women training in computer applications, and are looking at avenues to help them gain alternative employment even when they go back home,” said the senior official.
(* Names changed to protect identity)
