Last month, Yerawada prison in Maharashtra, India, became in part an open prison. Prachi Pinglay of the BBC reports that ‘women will soon be allowed to roam the premises and farmland in relative freedom’. Inspector General (Prisons) Uddhav Kamble explains that ‘Selected women inmates will mostly work in fields during the day and return to barracks in the evening. Our agricultural officer will train them. They get to step out, learn a skill, make some money and get their sentences reduced’.
“There are four such jails in Maharashtra alone for men and many more in other states. Now women convicts will also be able to get the benefits,” she [Principal Secretary (Home) of the Prisons department Medha Gadgil] said.
Social activists say that the move to introduce women’s open prisons is long overdue. India is a country where many female inmates are in prison because of crimes they have committed in response to domestic violence at home.
The Hindu has more, including that the women are also to ‘be trained in other skills such as candle-making, screen printing, etc. to help them start a new life after being released from jail’.
I love your posts because they tell me things I might have otherwise missed, since a lot of the blogs I follow are US or Aust centred.
This is really great news! I hope they extend this program to other prisons in the area.
Prison needs to serve as a place for rehabilitation, not punishment, and this seems like a positive step towards that :)
Aw, thanks, PharaohKatt :D.
This is fantastic. I am so pro-rehabilitation model for prisons, and it’s really nice to see more places moving in that direction.
Also seconding what PK said about it being great to get a more global view.
Do you know if the mens prisons have these programs too and if so, how have they worked out?
This sort of thing is prone to abuse (think chain gangs). Only cure is if the women are paid for their labor at prevailing rates or that the activity is genuinely non marketable.