Day Eleven: Pune

Pune, India is a city about two hours outside of Mumbai by car. It houses the Inspector General of Prisons for all of Maharashtra State, as well as the organization Human Rights Lawyers and Defenders, whose founder (and staff) we met for a morning meeting. Their offices, a two-room flat in an apartment complex near Kamla Nehru Park, house about a dozen workers, including many volunteers and interns that work with men and women prisoners. They are also putting together a program on HIV/AIDS education, and are in discussion with prison officials about bringing the program inside both a men’s and women’s prison in Pune.

The staff members shared their insights on prison conditions in Pune, including the system of hierarchy inside the barracks. According to HRLD, jail officials will appoint a warden in each barrack, who is a prisoner. This prisoner is tasked with keeping order inside their respective barrack, and are to report to the matron or jail official any concerns or problems.

Regarding medical conditions, HRLD said that prisoners are by law supposed to receive a check-up every 2-3 months, but that rarely happens. They said that prisoners will stand in a row waiting to see a doctor for hours on end, often times spending their day in line and not getting a chance to consult the doctor before he/she leaves for the day.

The group also spoke of the very high undertrial population inside India’s prisons. Undertrials are inmates who have not yet had a court appearance for the crime they were arrested for; according to HRLD, most the undertrials are inmates who have been accused of small theft, trespasses, or drug use. This is one reason that the prison population is so large, HRLD said (they specifically said that the jail population is double what it should be).

The group also gave our team some insight on the different barracks within the jails. Any jail that houses women keeps them in a separate barrack than men. Additionally, most jails have what is called a “bhabha” unit, which houses juveniles (keeping these younger adults separate from the older inmates).

This meeting ended up being one of those experiences of opening one door and finding five more. The director of HRLD was not only happy to provide us with further leads, but even arranged two meetings for us for the afternoon: one with a researcher in the Inspector General’s office, and another with a psychiatrist and Bollywood actor. After a quick lunch, our team split up to meet with both the researcher at the IG office, as well as a retired inspector general.

Getting some institutional perspective on the criminal justice system was critically important for our research, as it both confirmed and challenged some of the information our team has received from the various stakeholders we’ve met. Among the conditions that were confirmed were that overcrowding is a huge problem (we were even given a hard copy of a printout that listed the total populations for all prisons in Maharashtra State), and undertrials are not processed fast enough. The researcher said that undertrials “should be treated differently that those that are guilty, but they are usually treated the same. Undertrials are often deemed to be guilty, and the food they eat, and clothes they wear are the same as guilty inmates.”

The researcher gave us more information: in India, women can keep their children with them in prison until the children reach the age of 6 (at which point they go into a state-run shelter); inmates under 18 should not be kept in the same barracks as older inmates; of the 36 jails in Maharashtra State, 27 house both women and men (in separate barracks, of course); there are no official nurses inside prisons, only nursing orderlies with very little medical training.

The researcher said that he has heard complaints of sexual violence inside the prisons, but no one has produced any evidence to show that this occurs. He also detailed the reporting system for our team. All records are kept manually (no electronic databases of any sorts). The prison staff should collect information every 15 days (this includes statistical information on how many prisoners are being held, how many deaths might have happened, how many were sent to the hospital, etc.). Further, if there is a report of violence, or if an inmate dies while in custody, there should be official protocol that is followed by jail authorities (official reports are to be filed in these instances).

The researcher also described how prisoners are able to earn “remissions,” which are comparable to reward points. Prisoners can use these remissions to purchase leave time to visit families, or more often, certain supplies like soap, special types of food, soft drinks, etc. This system, the research said, can unfortunately be corrupted, as remissions are only rewarded based on a guard’s recommendation. If an inmate does not have a good relationship with a guard or guards, they can often find it hard to earn remissions, despite the best behavior.

Finally, the research gave us details on how prisoners can obtain work while in prison. Often, inmates will be employed as cooks, janitors, gardeners and more. According to the researcher, they make a wage comparable to the State’s minimum wage (if you include their housing and lodging). Approximately 33 percent of any given prison’s population is eligible for work, and they earn anywhere from 33 to 12 Rupees per day, depending on the type of work they perform.

Following the meeting, our team drove to a restaurant to share a drink with a clinical psychiatrist, who doubles as a Bollywood actor! The actor has been involved in a number of social issues, including efforts to mobilize the Bollywood community to push for the decriminalization of sodomy in India. He shared with us some insights on his work, as well as gave us pointers on what movies in his filmology we should check out!