Highlighting the vulnerability of women prisoners and the stigma faced by them during rehabilitation, the National Commission for Women (NCW) today pitched for conducting gender-themed training programmes for prison officials in partnership with penal institutions.
NCW chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam also outlined the need to upgrade the skill set of women inmates and said, "They have lagged behind in these areas unlike their male counterparts."
Addressing the concluding day of the 5th National Conference of Heads of Prisons of States and UTs on Prison Reform, she said, "We are very judgemental as a nation and more so, we tend to always find criticism with police. Policing and prison management are very tough job.
"So, we (NCW) are offering to ease your burden and are very keen to partner with you to have training sessions on gender sensitisation issues," Kumaramangalam said.
"The training modules can include counselling and grievance redressal systems for inmates. Also, it should be done in multiple languages," she said.
"It should not be about men vs women, as in many cases, I have found men to be more sensitive than women. It should be about responding to a situation pro-actively," Kumaramangalam said.
She said women face problems inside prisons and many a time do not know or do not tell and, therefore prison officials should be sensitised about it.
"For women inmates it is a double whammy. First they are women and are facing criminal charges. Women prisoners, many of them undertrials, are vulnerable not only inside the jail, but also when they come out of it as the challenge remains to integrate into mainstream society," the NCW chief said.
The best way to empower these women is to make them stand on their feet, so that once they come out of the prison, they can bravely face the society, she said.
But, unlike male inmates, who have moved ahead in acquiring skill set, including in IT, women inmates have been working with traditional skills like weaving or incense stick making, Kumaramangalam said.
"Also, children of inmates born in and out of prisons face problems in societal integration, so that needs to be addressed too. As per the old system, name of jails would be mentioned in birth certificates of those born inside prisons. But, as per the new system, only the place needs to be mentioned," she said.
Around 150 delegates comprising senior IPS officers, jail superintendents, academicians, representatives of leading universities, NGOs and students of law universities, attended the event organised by Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D).
Director General of BPR&D M C Borwankar outlined the views given by various prison chiefs, especially on the use of technology to make surveillance in jails better and also to improve literacy level among the inmates.
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