Protecting incarcerated women

Protecting incarcerated women

Article:

1. K. Raghavan, a former CBI Director, shares his opinion about the status of women and their children behind the prisons.

Important analysis:

2. Overcrowding, brutality, a lack of sanitation and unacceptable standards of health care are evident in prisons across the world.
3. Reforms for these pathetic conditions are not much talked about. Because of:

• Insufficient resources and
• The mindset that those in jail do not deserve better.

4. But the author is of the opinion that harsh punishment is not the only solution to prevent a determined or an impulsive offender from committing more crimes in future.
5. It is the fundamental duty of the state to see that  physical and emotional needs of women prisoners are taken care of.
6. For criminal justice policy makers, there are three challenges:
   • Firstly, the effort to reduce female imprisonment is a unanimous agreement. But there is a general lack of will because it is assessed that any radical departure from the law and practices can not be en cashed during elections.
   • The second challenge is on protecting the children of women prisoners. Most of them do not have physical and emotional support and many are single parent children, usually with their mothers.
   • The third challenge is protecting women inmates from sexual/non-sexual violence and their forceful initiation into substance abuse while in custody. An all-female warden system is difficult as a small complement of male security staff is needed despite its attendant consequences.
7. Suggestions for reforms in the nature of punishment for women:

• Less harsh punishments for women,
• Concessions with regard to detention before trial
• Non-violent women offenders should be subjected to community service and jail term should be the last resort. It would be an entirely different matter if such a convict commits an offence again after community service. In such cases she would be on a par with a male recidivist.
• Woman prisoners should be given standards of facilities more liberal than for men and especially when she is with a child.

8. Prisons can be made safer for women only by a mindset which is convinced that female offenders deserve compassion.

9. Some related important facts:

• Tamil Nadu has some prisons exclusively for women; current occupancy is estimated to be at 25%.
• Creches for children up to the age of 3 and nurseries for children up to 6 years are available.
• Older children are entrusted to relatives or voluntary organisations.
• In the U.S., according to a study (2010), several thousand children lived with their imprisoned mothers at one time.
• The same study suggested that the U.S. has a third of all women prisoners in the world; about 60% of them have children less than 18 years.
• The European Prison Rules have been modified to make treatment of prisoners in all member-nations more civilised.
• The World Health Organisation in particular has expressed concern over the reproductive health of women prisoners and the absence of maternal education during pregnancy.