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!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Day Ten: Navigating between advocacy work and fact-finding work
As mentioned earlier, the team is also assisting our NGO partner with some advocacy work related to a case before the Chennai High Court involving a large pharmaceutical company. The petitioner in the case is making a trip to Davos, Switzerland to address a number of grassroots activists during the World Economic Forum. Two members of our team met with the CEO and Founder of the petitioning organization, to draft a press release and talking points in the likely event that media will cover the address. In collaboration with our NGO partner, our team was careful not to detail anything about the merits of the case, as it is in violation of Indian law to speculate about the hearing if one is chief counsel or the petitioner.
We formulated a plan to release the press release on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, immediately prior to the petitioner’s address in Davos. We also made a commitment to produce a series of talking points for all of our partner NGO’s offices, as well as draft an op-ed piece, with the intention of placing it in a major publication.
Meanwhile, the other members of our team continued to firm up meetings with organizations and stakeholders working within India’s prisons, or on behalf of former or current inmates. The team scheduled meetings with a theater group that goes inside the prisons to provide art classes (theater, painting, etc.) for prisoners, and solidified meetings for a Thursday trip to Pune, which is about a two-hour drive from Mumbai (sans traffic). We all reconnected at 4pm to drive back to the Tata Institute for Social Sciences (TISS), where we were to meet with the head of a social work initiative housed at the university that works on prisoner rehabilitation.
At TISS, the head of the initiative gave a sound overview of the services they provide to prisons in Mumbai (and throughout Maharashtra State). They focus on the individual, often involving a prisoner’s family in their rehabilitation. Rehabilitation includes arranging for education, training, and helping with medical services for those addicted to drugs, among other programs the initiative runs. Among the education programs at the initiative include a program to train prisoners to become paralegals, as well as a program to train them to work in the NGO sector once they are released.
Because they work very closely with prison authorities and officials within India’s criminal justice system, the director was unwilling to comment on any conditions faced by prisoners, other than to say that overcrowding was an obvious issue inside India’s prisons. But the initiative has given workshops in collaboration with India’s National Human Rights Commission, and will sometimes participate in policy discussions if requested (the director cited an example where the Bombay High Court asked the initiative to weigh in with their thoughts on improving the visitation system for families of prisoners).
At the end of our meeting, the director gave us several leads (including a public health professional, as well as a literacy group that works within prisons in Maharashtra State) to follow up on, and suggested the solution to any problems concerning India’s prisons center around a lack of political will, and a need for NGOs and activists to meet prison officials to discuss their concerns.
We formulated a plan to release the press release on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, immediately prior to the petitioner’s address in Davos. We also made a commitment to produce a series of talking points for all of our partner NGO’s offices, as well as draft an op-ed piece, with the intention of placing it in a major publication.
Meanwhile, the other members of our team continued to firm up meetings with organizations and stakeholders working within India’s prisons, or on behalf of former or current inmates. The team scheduled meetings with a theater group that goes inside the prisons to provide art classes (theater, painting, etc.) for prisoners, and solidified meetings for a Thursday trip to Pune, which is about a two-hour drive from Mumbai (sans traffic). We all reconnected at 4pm to drive back to the Tata Institute for Social Sciences (TISS), where we were to meet with the head of a social work initiative housed at the university that works on prisoner rehabilitation.
At TISS, the head of the initiative gave a sound overview of the services they provide to prisons in Mumbai (and throughout Maharashtra State). They focus on the individual, often involving a prisoner’s family in their rehabilitation. Rehabilitation includes arranging for education, training, and helping with medical services for those addicted to drugs, among other programs the initiative runs. Among the education programs at the initiative include a program to train prisoners to become paralegals, as well as a program to train them to work in the NGO sector once they are released.
Because they work very closely with prison authorities and officials within India’s criminal justice system, the director was unwilling to comment on any conditions faced by prisoners, other than to say that overcrowding was an obvious issue inside India’s prisons. But the initiative has given workshops in collaboration with India’s National Human Rights Commission, and will sometimes participate in policy discussions if requested (the director cited an example where the Bombay High Court asked the initiative to weigh in with their thoughts on improving the visitation system for families of prisoners).
At the end of our meeting, the director gave us several leads (including a public health professional, as well as a literacy group that works within prisons in Maharashtra State) to follow up on, and suggested the solution to any problems concerning India’s prisons center around a lack of political will, and a need for NGOs and activists to meet prison officials to discuss their concerns.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Day Nine: Academics and Activists
Today the group met with our first organization that works exclusively with sex workers. The women this group works with work in both brothels (referred to as “bars”) as well as on the street. The organization facilitates legal aid, provides HIV/AIDS education, counseling services, a job center, as well as some basic needs, including baby formula (so that HIV+ women don’t pass along the virus through breast milk). In total the organization is working on 70 projects, some of which are funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with approximately 1,000 sex workers.
Three staff members of the organization told us about specific examples of abuse that many of the sex workers face. They described patterns of physical abuse committed by law enforcement officers against sex workers on the streets. Just when they are able to stop the abuse by a particular set of police officers, new police officers arrive and restart the abuse. Moreover, the staff members told stories of how police officers will target sex workers even when they are not practicing. They mentioned one incident of a woman who went to the grocery store to buy some fruit, but who was arrested for soliciting sex, which is against the law in India. If police know you are a sex worker, they said, they think you are always working.
When it came to describing the conditions faced by women in the prisons, the staff said that there is a separate cell for women at Mumbai’s largest prison, Arthur Road Jail. They described a hierarchical system within the women’s barrack, where certain inmates are able to take advantage of younger, newer inmates (physically and sexually). The staff members also said they find a disproportionate number of Muslim women both engaged in sex work, and also in prison.
Two of us left this meeting early to meet with a leading academic in the criminal justice field at the Tata Institute for Social Sciences (TISS), who was a former employee of the National Human Rights Commission in Delhi, where he headed their research division. This academic has been critically involved with India’s criminal justice system, and recently lead a study of medical doctors inside prisons in a neighboring state. His conclusions were stark: that there are not nearly enough medical professionals to handle the severely overcrowded prisons, and as such, public health is suffering drastically inside India’s prisons. In particular, the academic noted that tuberculosis is particularly bad, and that doctors are not trained well to handle the prison population.
He made some broad statements about conclusions made in the wake of his study, including: doctors are not usually willing to come to jails, because of the difficult population and the lack of money involved; doctors that do enter prisons are usually not briefed on international health standards, which may be one reason they overlook serious human rights violations and negligent prison conditions; doctors are usually not given any information about how jails operate, including formal and informal structures; since doctors work very closely with prison officials, they sometimes become silent partners in corruption or negligence within prisons.
After briefing us on his study, the academic engaged us in a new and very fruitful discussion on personal and societal conditions faced by jail guards themselves. His strongest point is that there is very little capacity building happening with the jail system, suggesting that guards and jail employees are not afforded the opportunity to advance, and have very little access to continuous training (their basic training, he asserted, consists of mostly physical fitness, and mirrors the training that regular police officials receive). There is also a societal stigma facing jail guards, he said, suggesting that they are not held in as high regard as police officers, nor are they paid a very high wage, which could push them toward corruption (bribing), or more often apathy.
Finally, the academic confirmed various conditions that had been reported to our team (poor water and sanitation, horrendous sleeping conditions, sexual violence among inmates, terrible food quality for poorer inmates, drug usage and dealing, and very little HIV/AIDS education). He suggested that some of these conditions could be addressed by updating the 1894 Prison Act, which was the last piece of legislation regulating how jails operate. The Act, he said, has no human rights provisions for both jail inmates and jail workers, and does not address the issue of overcrowding, which he blamed on the police and courts as opposed to the jail workers (“They cannot put a sign on the door that says ‘Full House,’” he said).
On our way out the door, he gave us several leads, including a few other individuals with TISS. Additionally, he asked us to submit a letter to him requesting a visit to the prisons, which we did promptly. If granted by the inspector general, the academic will take us on a tour of Arthur Road Jail, one of the most populous jails in all of Maharashtra State.
Three staff members of the organization told us about specific examples of abuse that many of the sex workers face. They described patterns of physical abuse committed by law enforcement officers against sex workers on the streets. Just when they are able to stop the abuse by a particular set of police officers, new police officers arrive and restart the abuse. Moreover, the staff members told stories of how police officers will target sex workers even when they are not practicing. They mentioned one incident of a woman who went to the grocery store to buy some fruit, but who was arrested for soliciting sex, which is against the law in India. If police know you are a sex worker, they said, they think you are always working.
When it came to describing the conditions faced by women in the prisons, the staff said that there is a separate cell for women at Mumbai’s largest prison, Arthur Road Jail. They described a hierarchical system within the women’s barrack, where certain inmates are able to take advantage of younger, newer inmates (physically and sexually). The staff members also said they find a disproportionate number of Muslim women both engaged in sex work, and also in prison.
Two of us left this meeting early to meet with a leading academic in the criminal justice field at the Tata Institute for Social Sciences (TISS), who was a former employee of the National Human Rights Commission in Delhi, where he headed their research division. This academic has been critically involved with India’s criminal justice system, and recently lead a study of medical doctors inside prisons in a neighboring state. His conclusions were stark: that there are not nearly enough medical professionals to handle the severely overcrowded prisons, and as such, public health is suffering drastically inside India’s prisons. In particular, the academic noted that tuberculosis is particularly bad, and that doctors are not trained well to handle the prison population.
He made some broad statements about conclusions made in the wake of his study, including: doctors are not usually willing to come to jails, because of the difficult population and the lack of money involved; doctors that do enter prisons are usually not briefed on international health standards, which may be one reason they overlook serious human rights violations and negligent prison conditions; doctors are usually not given any information about how jails operate, including formal and informal structures; since doctors work very closely with prison officials, they sometimes become silent partners in corruption or negligence within prisons.
After briefing us on his study, the academic engaged us in a new and very fruitful discussion on personal and societal conditions faced by jail guards themselves. His strongest point is that there is very little capacity building happening with the jail system, suggesting that guards and jail employees are not afforded the opportunity to advance, and have very little access to continuous training (their basic training, he asserted, consists of mostly physical fitness, and mirrors the training that regular police officials receive). There is also a societal stigma facing jail guards, he said, suggesting that they are not held in as high regard as police officers, nor are they paid a very high wage, which could push them toward corruption (bribing), or more often apathy.
Finally, the academic confirmed various conditions that had been reported to our team (poor water and sanitation, horrendous sleeping conditions, sexual violence among inmates, terrible food quality for poorer inmates, drug usage and dealing, and very little HIV/AIDS education). He suggested that some of these conditions could be addressed by updating the 1894 Prison Act, which was the last piece of legislation regulating how jails operate. The Act, he said, has no human rights provisions for both jail inmates and jail workers, and does not address the issue of overcrowding, which he blamed on the police and courts as opposed to the jail workers (“They cannot put a sign on the door that says ‘Full House,’” he said).
On our way out the door, he gave us several leads, including a few other individuals with TISS. Additionally, he asked us to submit a letter to him requesting a visit to the prisons, which we did promptly. If granted by the inspector general, the academic will take us on a tour of Arthur Road Jail, one of the most populous jails in all of Maharashtra State.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Day Eight: Media Planning
Media advocacy is critically important in the field of human rights. Today, several members of our team met with a leading NGO that works on cancer issues, and spoke with them directly about their communications and media strategies. The NGO is currently involved in litigation against a big pharmaceutical company, and is looking for ways to spread their message through the media.
Our team focused on press outreach, and provided some suggestions for how the NGO could reach certain international and major U.S.-based publications and news outlets. We also discussed the possibility of placing an op-ed, and perhaps engaging an international grassroots (or “netroots”) base with some simple messaging. It was a fruitful meeting that yielded more work, for certain, but also very energetic ideas.
Other members of the team attended a meeting on corruption in the medical professional field, which is an issue that ties into the project on prison conditions. Numerous former inmates that we interviewed talked about how bad the medical services were in prison, both in terms of quality (how doctors treated patients), and specifically quantity (the ratio of doctors to prisons, which we’ve been told is approximately 250 inmates to one doctor).
Of course, no day would be complete without making a dozen (or more) phone calls to individuals and organizations, trying to set up meetings for later in the week. The team successfully scheduled about eight meetings with organizations and professionals for the following five days.
Our team focused on press outreach, and provided some suggestions for how the NGO could reach certain international and major U.S.-based publications and news outlets. We also discussed the possibility of placing an op-ed, and perhaps engaging an international grassroots (or “netroots”) base with some simple messaging. It was a fruitful meeting that yielded more work, for certain, but also very energetic ideas.
Other members of the team attended a meeting on corruption in the medical professional field, which is an issue that ties into the project on prison conditions. Numerous former inmates that we interviewed talked about how bad the medical services were in prison, both in terms of quality (how doctors treated patients), and specifically quantity (the ratio of doctors to prisons, which we’ve been told is approximately 250 inmates to one doctor).
Of course, no day would be complete without making a dozen (or more) phone calls to individuals and organizations, trying to set up meetings for later in the week. The team successfully scheduled about eight meetings with organizations and professionals for the following five days.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Day Six: Advocacy
Today, the NGO we are partnering with had a full-day meeting to discuss some litigation they are working on, in particular a piece of litigation involving patents and international patent law. Two members of our team participated in this meeting: one spent the entire day (actually, the entire weekend) getting briefed on the case, while another member of the team spent Saturday afternoon participating in a discussion about advocacy, and different ways to try and engage both media, grassroots movements, and other NGOs on the issues surrounding the litigation.
The meeting offered valuable insight into the decision-making process of our partner NGO, and raised several good questions surrounding the role of lawyers and public advocacy, and the boundaries that litigants must be careful not to cross.
At the end of the day, we finished with a nice meal in the Colaba area of Mumbai, which is known for its vast street markets and great restaurants. Our team had a chance to walk around and look at the vast amount of street vendors, and also do some shopping!
The meeting offered valuable insight into the decision-making process of our partner NGO, and raised several good questions surrounding the role of lawyers and public advocacy, and the boundaries that litigants must be careful not to cross.
At the end of the day, we finished with a nice meal in the Colaba area of Mumbai, which is known for its vast street markets and great restaurants. Our team had a chance to walk around and look at the vast amount of street vendors, and also do some shopping!
Friday, January 12, 2007
Day Five: A Picture of Prison Conditions
After a morning team meeting, our group decided to split up today. Four members of the team traveled back to the drop-in center run by this NGO that works on drug and HIV/AIDS issues (this NGO runs a drop-in center, an HIV shelter, and they also have their own small barrack inside one of Mumbai’s prisons). Two members took the train to downtown Mumbai, to work at the main office collecting data from three behemoth binders that contained questionnaires given to recently released drug users. (The questionnaires did not specifically look at prison conditions, but rather gathered information on (1) where the person was arrested, (2) what charges the person was arrested under, (3) whether the person went to trial, and (4) how many appearances the person made in court, either in person or via videoconference, after being arrested.)
At the drop-in center, the group decided to change things up for our second day. Rather than interview individuals one-on-one in a very structured setting, we asked the staff if it would be appropriate to organize a focus group. The idea went off as a hit, as between 10-12 people who recently were in prison sat with us for three hours providing detailed images of what their experience in prison was like.
The conversation was rich. We heard details of very dire circumstances inside the prisons – some people saying that they were forced to sleep inside the toilets, others saying that there is widespread physical abuse by guards, and a reiteration that inmates with money control life in the barracks. One of our students asked about sexual violence inside the prisons, and one member of the group responded by saying to the others, “Don’t be embarrassed to talk to her. She’s our sister trying to help.” They then went on to tell us several experiences they saw (no one admitted being a victim) of sexual violence.
The group described in detail the consistency of the food and its quality (often poor). They described how drug users are treated much more harshly by other inmates and guards. The listed how much things cost, from a decent shave to a haircut, and how prisoners have to barter for everything. If a prisoner doesn’t have money, they aren’t able to access much of anything in the prisons.
It was a fast-paced and moving afternoon. In addition to having upwards of a dozen former inmates talking to us about their experiences, we also felt a real bond between our team and the group at the drop-in center. We crossed a threshold of building confidentiality and trust, and as a result got better, more coherent testimony.
As we left, several young boys who were milling about us (and who curiously kept poking in and out of the focus group!) urged us to play cricket with them. Two of us got to pitch and two of us got to hit; in fact, one of us scored a six off one of the hits, and the whole yard cheered.
At the drop-in center, the group decided to change things up for our second day. Rather than interview individuals one-on-one in a very structured setting, we asked the staff if it would be appropriate to organize a focus group. The idea went off as a hit, as between 10-12 people who recently were in prison sat with us for three hours providing detailed images of what their experience in prison was like.
The conversation was rich. We heard details of very dire circumstances inside the prisons – some people saying that they were forced to sleep inside the toilets, others saying that there is widespread physical abuse by guards, and a reiteration that inmates with money control life in the barracks. One of our students asked about sexual violence inside the prisons, and one member of the group responded by saying to the others, “Don’t be embarrassed to talk to her. She’s our sister trying to help.” They then went on to tell us several experiences they saw (no one admitted being a victim) of sexual violence.
The group described in detail the consistency of the food and its quality (often poor). They described how drug users are treated much more harshly by other inmates and guards. The listed how much things cost, from a decent shave to a haircut, and how prisoners have to barter for everything. If a prisoner doesn’t have money, they aren’t able to access much of anything in the prisons.
It was a fast-paced and moving afternoon. In addition to having upwards of a dozen former inmates talking to us about their experiences, we also felt a real bond between our team and the group at the drop-in center. We crossed a threshold of building confidentiality and trust, and as a result got better, more coherent testimony.
As we left, several young boys who were milling about us (and who curiously kept poking in and out of the focus group!) urged us to play cricket with them. Two of us got to pitch and two of us got to hit; in fact, one of us scored a six off one of the hits, and the whole yard cheered.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Day Four: Mapping
In doing an initial mapping of groups we could speak to regarding conditions inside India’s prisons, the team decided to focus on three groups: drug users, sex workers, and members of the MSM (men who have sex with men) community (sodomy is currently against the law in India, and violators are prosecuted). This week so far we’ve focused on drug users, and in particular drug users recently released from prison and in recovery centers. Today we traveled to an NGO that works with drug users on the streets, and also has its own small prison barrack inside one of Mumbai’s more populated prisons, Arthur Road Jail. The team interviewed three staff members (two peer counselors, and one HIV/AIDS educator) who regularly have access to India’s prisons. The staff members were quick to note that they have very little access inside the prisons, short of their own small barrack, which holds 30 people.
The staff members noted that very seldom are foreigners allowed inside the prisons, and sometimes it is difficult for Indian women to enter, even if they are lawyers (if they are allowed to enter, their access is extremely restricted and they are closely monitored). The staff echoed some of the same comments we heard yesterday about access to drugs and a mafia-like hierarchy within the prisons. The staff also spoke dramatically of the overcrowded cells in the prisons. Despite the fact that they have their own barrack of just 35-40 inmates, most of the other barracks contain upwards of 100 prisoners each (they are made to hold no more than 40).
After the interviews, two of us spoke with a 25-year-old man who, since becoming clean a year and a half ago, has worked for the NGO making leather bags from scraps of leather and fabric. These bags are sold in tourist markets in Goa, India. The bags are beautiful (you can see a sampling of them in the picture), and the man’s story is heartbreaking.
He moved to Mumbai when he was 8, and soon thereafter (age 10) started using drugs. First cannabis, then brown sugar (a raw form of heroin). To pay for his brown sugar he would steal, but was beaten up by police officers several times for theft. At 17 he went to prison for the first time, and for the next six years went in and out of jail on drug charges. Around age 23, he entered the needle exchange program at the NGO (first he was actually admitted to their shelter, with wounds so bad on his hands that he had maggots in them), where he found out he was HIV+. For the past year and a half he has struggled to stay clean, and making the leather bags has given him something to give back to the organization that helped him. He still lives on a footpath near a train station, but he’s now sober. “I have it in my heart to help others now,” he said to us. 
After purchasing a few of his bags, the team departed for our office and spent the next four hours vigorously working on processing interview notes, writing summaries, and finalizing a “leads list” of other organizations and activists we could be in touch with. Around 8pm we left for the night, had dinner in the Fort district of Mumbai (the area that houses the Mumbai High Court), and departed for our flat, where we finished with an hour-long team meeting to plan the next day.
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