The Hindu : Now all-women prisons

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Now all-women prisons

By Radha Venkatesan

CHENNAI June 17. After all-women police stations, it is now all-women prisons and exclusive counselling centres for women prisoners in Tamil Nadu.

The 1,768 women lodged in various jails will soon be shifted to sub-jails exclusively for women prisoners and ``manned'' exclusively by women staff.

Not just inside the prison complex, but outside the sub-jail complex too women staff will keep guard, says a senior official of the Prisons department. ``The aim is to ensure that no man enters all-women jails and gives room for allegations of molestation and harassment.''

For, the Jayalalithaa Government's move to set up all-women jails in 10 districts follows the gang- rape of a prisoner, Rita Mary, at Ginjee last year.

Also, the Justice V.R.Krishna Iyer-led expert committee on women prisoners has asked all State governments to keep ``women convicts and undertrials rigidly secluded from other prisoners to streamline the prison administration and to avoid untoward incidents''.

For ``manning'' the all-women prisons, the State Government has decided to recruit about 80 women jail staff members now.

And, for creating the all-women jail in 10 places, the existing sub-jails at Villupuram, Krishnagiri, Tiruvarur, Nilakottai, Paramakudi, Thakkalai, Sattur, Coonoor, Salem and Tirunvelveli will be cleared of male inmates. ``Spreading out the sub-jails for women across the State will help reduce long-distance transport to courts,'' says a senior official in the Home department.

And, to address the ``psychological'' problems of the women prisoners, particularly mothers behind bars, the Social Welfare department has decided to set up round-the-clock couselling centres with professional women psychologists in the existing special jails for women in Vellore and Tiruchi, besides the Puzhal jail near Chennai.

There are 63 children up to five years of age including 29 girl babies languishing in jails along with their mothers. And, some of these children and women prisoners suffer from a variety of psychological problems requiring immediate attention, say NGO activists. ``Hence, psychologists will be posted in the jail complex for providing constant care to the prisoners,'' points out a Social Welfare department official.

As of now, women prisoners are kept in separate enclosures within the nine central prison complexes and sub-jails, where male prisoners are lodged.

And, with the strength of women remand inmates at least 10 times more than the number of women convicts in Tamil Nadu's prisons, the ``psychological'' problems are indeed acute, say NGOs.

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Now all-women prisons