Women in jail bear the brunt of incarceration far worse than men, particularly in terms of access to essential facilities, such as medical care, legal aid and counsel, paid labour, and recreational facilities. According to a report, these basic requirements are often denied to women who live in enclosures within the larger setup of a prison facility as compared to an exclusive women’s prison facility.
Between 2014 and 2019, the population of female convicts in Indian jails increased by 11.7 per cent, and by 2019, women accounted for 4.2 per cent of the entire prison population. Despite this, the report shows that just 18 per cent of female prisoners are assigned to women’s prisons, as only 15 states have functional women’s jails. All the female prisoners, whether undertrials or convicts, are housed in the same wards and barracks.
According to the report, there is also a dearth of gender-specific training, with matrons not being taught how to search women. It further notes that only 10 states allow female convicts to submit complaints against jail staff for any sort of abuse or harassment.
Medical issues include the lack of separate medical and psychiatric wards for female offenders, basic facilities for child delivery, and healthcare personnel to handle the gender-specific health needs of female detainees. Further, there is a lack of psychiatric wards for female inmates in about 19 states.
To address these issues, the report suggests implementing telemedicine facilities, such as remote diagnosis and virtual consultation for inmate treatment, strengthening vocational training and education programmes, and replacing imprisonment for minor offences with community service and proper counselling for inmates with psychological disorders.