Despite having released several prisoners on parole to tackle issues like overcrowding and the spread of infections like COVID-19, the prisons of Maharashtra are facing challenges concerning an excess of women prisoners. According to a recent report by The National Crime Bureau, Maharashtra features among six states where female prisoners exceed the capacity available to them. The six states that have been reported to have occupancy challenges for female prisoners include Uttarakhand (156.5 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (140.6 per cent), Chhattisgarh (136.5 per cent), Maharashtra (105.8 per cent), J&K (104.1 per cent) and Jharkhand (102.6 per cent).
With only one dedicated prison for women in Byculla, most of the other prisons in the state have separate enclosures for women within the male prisons with the issues and problems of women prisoners taking a backseat. “In a structure that is designed for male prisoners, women get marginalised and their needs and problems become secondary as they are fewer in number,” says professor Vijay Raghavan, head of Prayas, a field action project of TISS that works on prisoners’ legal rights and rehabilitation in an interview to TOI.
According to reports, the specialised needs of women like access to gynecologists and pediatricians for children get limited due to the absence of women-only prisons in the states. Rehabilitation is also an important factor. Once released from prison, women face several challenges to get back to their regular lives and reintegrate into society. Under such circumstances, access to counsellors and mental health experts is important for these women prisoners believes Raghavan. On the other hand, with only a few dedicated prisons for women, families will find it difficult to travel long distances to visit them, this will isolate the women prisoners even further, states former inspector general (Prisons) Dr Meeran Chadha Borwankar in the interview.
The solution for such challenges according to these experts is to create a common complex where women requiring maximum security, women rescued from commercial sexual exploitations and women living in shelter homes can be housed in separate buildings with common infrastructure and facilities that help in their development and are also cost-effective for the government.