Editorial: No country for women prisoners

Women prisoners suffer far greater, especially with regard to access to basic facilities

The Supreme Court’s intervention to address the plight of women prisoners in the country is a welcome move. Women in incarceration suffer the brunt of imprisonment far worse than their male counterparts, especially with regard to access to basic facilities ranging from medical care to legal aid. Even these are frequently denied to them. The apex court has asked the Centre and States to submit their views on the findings of the committee on prison reforms headed by former judge Amitava Roy. The committee, which submitted its report to the SC in December last year, brought out several grim facts. Consider this: Only three prisons in India — Goa, Delhi and Puducherry — allow women prisoners to hug their children when they come to visit. In all other jails, prisoners and their children are physically separated by bars or glass; No prison in India provides free sanitary napkins to women prisoners; just 27% of women’s prisons provide special diets for pregnant prisoners and lactating mothers. The majority do not have even minimum facilities for delivery and childbirth; Only 18 of 32 women’s prisons are exclusively for women. The rest are housed within prisons for men and of these, three-fourths share kitchens and common facilities with male wards; Programmes for the rehabilitation of women prisoners after their release exist in only 38% of prisons. Most women prisoners have poor educational levels and little awareness about what happens in courts. They suffer far greater social isolation and stigma.

Setting up fast-track courts to expedite undertrial cases for petty offences could be the first step towards prison reforms. This will reduce overcrowding in jails. At the end of 2021, as many as 1,319 prisons in India with a capacity for 4.25 lakh people held over 5.54 lakh prisoners. The 32 prisons for women had a capacity of 6,767 but held 22,918, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Between 2014 and 2019, Indian prisons witnessed an increase in the population of female prisoners by 11.7%, and by 2019, women accounted for 4.2% of the total prison population. Despite this, only 18% of women prisoners are allotted exclusive women’s prison facilities, as only 15 States and union Territories have functional women’s prisons. The Amitava Roy committee has rightly emphasised the need for making telemedicine facilities available to women prisoners, enhancing skill development, setting up grievance redressal mechanisms and ensuring proper counselling for those in need of it. It has asked for infrastructure upgrades and the segregation of women prisoners — undertrials from hardened criminals. All legal aid services must undergo regular performance audits; police stations must have a permanent legal aid lawyer who will be available from the time of arrest to the trial. The prison staff shortages — as much as 40% across the country — must be filled immediately.

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