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Unique new women's prison comes up in Delhi

Swapna Khanna

Vinod has heard of a cinema but never seen one. He's been living with his convict mother and her friends since his birth in the high security Tihar jail. But he will know all right when he shifts, along with his friends, his mother and the other female inmates, to the new women's jail.

A unique complex, including an open-air theatre, a study centre, a gymnasium, a meditation room, a library and an open air theatre, will make the jail the first of its kind in the country.

To be inaugurated on February 21, the new complex was built at a cost of over Rs 50 million. It should give some relief to the prisoners, 435 of who now occupy a complex meant for just 200. The existing complex also houses 56 children of these women.

Women will also be offered many vocational courses such as paper-making, typing, computers, weaving and tailoring. A beautician's course is also on the cards.

Kiran Bedi, Magsaysay award winner and former director general (prison), had first proposed an all-woman jail in 1994 to eliminate sexual harassment and reduce crowding in prisons.

The new jail will have four sections (6A, 6B, 6C, 6D). 6B, 6C, 6D are currently under construction, each with a capacity of 450 inmates. The new jail, which is to have a staff of 100 women, is to become operational on February 22.

"The women here at Tihar jail are our responsibility. Though I have got no complaints of sexual harassment, we are taking every possible precaution. The segregation of the women inmates is our way of preventing complaints that are typical to mixed jails " says Ajay Aggarwal, director-general (prisons).

Jail authorities say there's little contact between male and female inmates beyond the entrance and exit. But the prison has witnessed several controversies, including cases of women prisoners getting pregnant. And investigations suggest that even the jail staff has molested women prisoners. That was why a women's jail was mooted in the first place.

This will be for the first time in the country that a jail offers a beautician course, says Aggarwal. "These vocational courses provided will go a long way in the rehabilitation of the inmates," the senior IPS officer said.

The jail will also have an in-house faculty of educated inmates to teach other interested inmates.

The controversial prison is presently a complex of five prisons with an official housing capacity of about 3,300. But the actual number of inmates is believed to be over 10,000.

Following the increase in crime and a consequent increase in the number of undertrials, the Delhi government has begun constructing five more jails in the city. According to the existing plans, some Tihar prisoners will be shifted to these jails once they are operational.

But some officials said that the problem of overcrowding could probably be dealt with better by disposing of cases faster.

Despite the modernisation and expansion plans, the women inmates, who stand to benefit the most, are not enthusiastic.

Shakuntala, a 60-year-old women undertrial facing charges of dowry, says it hardly makes a difference since she's only thinking about when she'll be released.

Vimla, 38, another undertrial, summed up what the inmates felt: "We stay here or there, what difference does it make? All we want is to get out of this place".

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