Women in Prison
The Hon Justice Gita Mittal
Title1
Title 2
Women in Prison
The marginalisation and discrimination experienced by
women in society does not stop at the prison entrance.
Rather it continues to impinge on their lives even when in
state custody, perhaps in its most aggravated forms.
Central Jail, Tihar,
New Delhi, India
Special Concerns Women Face
in Prison
• Women have special health and medical needs.
In prison manuals make provisions for the ‘man’
and not the ‘woman’.
• For instance, insufficient provisions are made for
lactating mothers and infants.
• Adolescent girls and women are also sent to
institutional custody to exercise control over her
sexuality and decision making.
Health issues
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Physical health
Mental health
Reproductive health concerns
Lack of sanitary facilities during the menstrual
cycle
• Lack of medical care are during pregnancy
and child birth
• Treatment for substance abuse
• HIV+ status and treatment
Mental ill-health concerns
• Experience shows that family members
give wrong addresses of a of prisoner who
is mentally ill
• No one visits the prison for ‘mulakat’ ; legal
aid may be lacking or insufficient
• When released, no one receives them
Case Study of M
• M was arrested on 23 September 2005 for killing her husband
and step-daughter
• Nowhere during the trial was a plea of mental illness taken up
• She was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the jail and in
appeal is her mental illness has been taken as a ground
• On 12 May 2011, she was granted suspension of sentence
during the pendency of the appeal by on the condition that her
treatment for schizophrenia be continued
• No one visits her in the prison, her brother is not willing to
take her responsibility and have not provided the surety for
her bail
• Till date, she has spent, 6 years 7 months and 10 days in jail
Prisoners with mental health issuesfacilitating their re-entry into community
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Prompt diagnosis, treatment and stabilizing the illness
Integrating treatment and case management
Obtaining therapeutic living arrangements
Providing structure to daily routine; managing behaviour
distortions and enhancing their independent functioning
Maintaining internal and external controls to minimize the
possibility of violence and recidivism
Establishing a liaison between treatment staff and the justice
system
Ensuring a daily routine in the offender's life
Using authority appropriately
Working with the family so that it is a reliable source of social
support and willing to take
Sexual Harassment and assault :
custodial torture and ill treatment –
Daw Suu Suu Mon, a member of the Student Union of Burma,
writes about her experience in the interrogation center of Military
Intelligence Unit (7) in 1991:
“During my interrogations I was forced to continuously squat and
stand with my arms raised in the air. I had to do this even when I
gave them information because they were never satisfied with
my answers. The pain of squatting and standing was intense,
and whenever I had to stop because of the pain someone would
hit me with a cane stick across my hips and on my nipples. This
torture went on for the whole night. Whenever I tried to re-fasten
my sarong my interrogators would hit me across my arms. ‘If you
don’t tell us the truth,’ they mocked, ‘we will remove your
sarong.”
(page 5) Woman Political Prisoners in Burma, Joint report,
Burmese Women’s Union & Assistance Association for Political Prisoners,
Burma
Political prisoners face additional
problems:
Aung San Suu Kyi symbolises the hope,
determination and participation of a
woman in people’s struggle for liberty,
dignity and justice
“Fearlessness may be a gift but perhaps
more precious is the courage acquired
through endeavour, courage that comes
from cultivating the habit of refusing to let
fear dictate one’s actions, courage that
could be described as “grace under
pressure”- grace which is renewed
repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting
pressure”
Case Study:
Amit Kumar v. State of NCT of Delhi
MANU/DE/1026/2010
Criminal Appeal 442/2008 decided on 8 April 2010
• Amit, a short tempered person was convicted for the offence
of having committed murder in a fit of rage of a person who
intervened when he was quarelling with his wife
• In his appeal, he moved an application for suspension of the
sentence. This is what was observed by the Division Bench:15. The plight evidenced by Hemwati, the wife of the appellant,
shows that the persons who are actually penalized is not the
appellant, but his wife and three children.
16. In the confines of Tihar jail, the appellant is fed a
breakfast, a lunch and a dinner. He gets tea and biscuits
twice a day. His basics are well-looked after by the jail
authorities.
17. But what is the plight of the wife and children of the appellant?
18. We briefly note the same.
19. As per the letter of Hemwati addressed to the appellant in jail*, after
invoking the blessings of God she has informed the appellant that life
has become unbearable for her and she is just not able to bear the pain
of suffering of her children.
As per her, after the unfortunate incident, her in-laws compelled her
to leave her matrimonial house along with her three children. She
shifted to the house of her mother where her brother and her sister-inlaw got tired of feeding four mouths and after sometime told her to fend
for herself and her children. Hemwati writes, that to help her brother
she took up a job of cleaning utensils and moping the floor in a house,
but the money was insufficient. Her brother compelled her to leave his
house and one night she was thrown on the street along with her
children. Hemwati writes that she is unable to bear the pains of
hunger of her children and their suffering each day.
She has desired that the appellant should return to care for
the family before it is too late. She has wondered as to for
what sin she and her children are suffering.
*’jail’ is another term for ‘person
She has informed the appellant that her life is ebbing and her courage
to fight hardship has evaporated and she has lost the battle..... she
concludes the letter by stating that she has had enough of misery in life
and unless her husband takes up responsibility of managing the affairs
of the family she may be compelled to take the extreme step.
20. We have noted the plight of the wife and the children of the
appellant not only to bring home the point as to how sentencing
policies sometimes let go the real culprit and the axe falls on the
innocent. Indeed, it is not the appellant who is suffering a
sentence. His wife and children, who are innocent, are the real
sufferers.
21. Be that as it may, we conclude our decision by disposing of the
appeal holding that the appeal is partially allowed. The conviction of the
appellant for the offence of murder is modified. The appellant is
convicted for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to
murder under Section 304 Part II IPC, for which offence we
sentence the appellant to undergo imprisonment for
period already undergone.”
In prison for ...
Category
I
Organised Crime
II
Dowry related
offences
III
Crimes of passion
IV
Others
Description
Observations
-Drugs, Psychotropic substances
-Human Trafficking
-Kidnapping of children for purposes of
pick- pocketing
-Begging
-Women who are in organised crimes w.r.t drugs
and human trafficking are ‘least’ exploited
-if considered as the bread earner, they are not
abandoned by their family in or out of prison
On account of:
-dowry or property demand
-harassment
-dowry death
-may include mother-in-law and/or sister-in-law
(husband’s sister / wife of husband’s brother)
-suffer maximum ostracisation, discrimination,
social ridicule and humiliation
-their relatives vulnerable to taunts
-Murder by a victim by wife/ by husband/
his paramour or her own paramour/ his
wife account of grave and sustained
provocation
-Murder of wife/ husband or a paramour
on account of an illicit relationship
-worst sufferers
-stigmatized
-abandoned by families
-prejudice in justice system
-legal assistance insufficient
-upon release, bleak prospects of rehabilitation &
familial acceptance
-vulnerable
- recidivism
-Human sacrifice
-Sati
-Honour Killings
-Civil/ political prisoners
-Other offences
-women perpetrating crimes against women
-stigmatized
-societal abhorrence
-societal and institutional abandonment
• The Central Jail, also known as the Tihar Jail in Delhi
• It is the largest prison in South Asia built on land ad
measuring
• 400 acres (16,18,742.568 m²)
• With sanctioned strength of 6250 prisoners, its occupancy is
11925
• Having ten jails in all, two are for convicts, six for undertrials;
• One each for women and adolescents
Source:
http://www.delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/lib_centraljail/Central+Jail/Home/Pris
oner+Profile
The Women's jail as on 29
February 2012...
• Against capacity of 400, the Jail No. 6 (for women) lodges to 512
inmates and 43 children
• Undergoing Life sentence- 45 inmates
• Age distribution 30-50 years- 259 ( 50.59%)
• Married- 81.19%
• Transgenders- 1 Undertrial Prisoner
• HIV+: 5, physically disabled- 2 and mentally disabled- 1
• Foreign nationals- 4.69%
• Illiterate- 55.05%, Technically qualified- 0.2%
• Before arrest, 46. 93% of the women fell into the annual income
bracket of INR 10,001 to INR 30,000 (US$ 222 to US$ 666)
Trends in Tihar jail (2010)
Marital Status
Percentage
Male
Female
Married
52.53
81.19
Unmarried
47.47
18.81
Educational Standards
Percentage
Male %
Female%
Illiterate
31.71
55.05
Below class X
33.78
18.42
Class X & above but below
graduation
26.16
16.04
Graduation
5.85
8.51
Post-graduation
1.19
1.78
Holding Technical
Degree/Diploma etc
1.31
0.2
Post Release...barriers to
re-entering the community
• Ostracization/stigma
• Rejection by family as a result of shame experienced by
the family
• Lack of rehabilitation and re-integration
• Denial of safe and affordable housing
• Limited access to social resources
• Sustainable employment lacking
• Transitional Income
• Illiteracy, lack of training
• Financial bankruptcy
• Recidivism
• Women inmates undergo intensive emotional stress due
to separation from their families. Laudable and
commendable work regarding women prisoners has
been initiated by the Indian judiciary.
• In response to a public interest litigation, the Supreme
Court has formulated guidelines regarding pregnancy,
antenatal, child-birth and post-natal care and child care
(R.D. Upadhyay Vs State of A.P.- AIR 2006 SC 1946)
18
The Supreme Court has clearly stated the following:
Regarding Pregnancy
• Before sending a woman who is pregnant to a jail, the concerned authorities must
ensure that the jail in question has the basic minimum facilities for child delivery as well
as for providing prenatal and post-natal care for both the mother and the child.
• When a woman prisoner is found or suspected to be pregnant at the time of her
admission or at any time thereafter, the lady Medical Officer shall report the fact to the
Superintendent. As soon as possible, arrangement shall be made to get such prisoner
medically examined at the female wing of the District Government Hospital for
ascertaining the state of her health, pregnancy, duration of pregnancy, probable date of
delivery and so on. After ascertaining the necessary particulars, a report shall be sent
to the Inspector General of Prisons, stating the date of admission, term of sentence,
date of release, duration of pregnancy, possible date of delivery and so on.
Regarding Child birth in prison
• As far as possible and provided she has a suitable option, arrangements for temporary
release/parole (or suspended sentence in case of minor and casual offender) should be
made to enable an expectant prisoner to have her delivery outside the prison. Only
exceptional cases constituting high security risk or cases of equivalent grave
descriptions can be denied this facility.
• Births in prison, when they occur, shall be registered in the local birth registration
office. But the fact that the child has been born in the prison shall not be recorded
in the certificate of birth that is issued. Only the address of the locality shall
be mentioned.
• As far as circumstances permit, all facilities for the naming rites of children
born in prison shall be extended.
Regarding child care
Female prisoners shall be allowed to keep their children with them in jail till they attain the
age of six years
After six years, the child shall be handed over to a suitable surrogate as per the wishes of
the female prisoner.
Expenses of food, clothing, medical care and shelter shall be borne by the respective
state.
There shall be a crèche and a nursery attached to the prison for women where the
children of women prisoners will be looked after. Children below three years of age shall
be allowed in the crèche and those between three and six years shall be looked after in
the nursery. The prison authorities shall preferably run the said crèche and nursery
outside the prison premises.
A dietary scale prepared by the National Institute of Nutrition, Council of Medical
Research, Hyderabad , for a balanced diet for infants and children up to the age of six.
Jail manual and/or other relevant rules, regulations, instructions etc. shall be suitably
amended within three months so as to comply with the above directions. The Apex court
clearly highlighted the need to uphold the fundamental rights. It articulated the provisions
under Article 15(3)-special provisions for women and
children, Article 21-Right to
life and liberty, and Article 21A-free and compulsory education to all children from the
ages of six to 14 years.
Regarding Gynaecological examination
Gynaecological examination of female prisoners shall be performed in the
District Government Hospital. Proper pre-natal and post-natal care shall be
provided to the prisoner as per medical advice
Lesson yet to be learnt :
‘One size does not fit all’
“Be free. Nobody can imprison your mind.
They can imprison your body, but they
cannot imprison your mind. We must
always remember this. Free your mind”
says Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma
Thank you
Church House Conference Centre
London