Women prisoners in India: tracing gender gaps in theorising imprisonment (original) (raw)
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WOMEN PRISONERS: AN UNADDRESSED ENTITY IN THE PENAL HISTORY OF INDIA
Prison is a difficult area to be investigated and studied. It is non competitive in the sense that it does not have any sister organization doing the same function. It safeguards itself from any foreign intrusion into its monopolistic governance. Women continue to be an " unaddressed entity " in the penal history. Criminality among women has been a neglected subject for criminologists as well. The British made " Prison Act " of 1894 still remains in power which contains only one provision regarding women i.e. Section 27 providing for separation of women prisoners from the male prisoners. There can be many reasons for such neglect like the patriarchal approach towards research which treats women as a subsidiary and not the primary subject of research. Since, fewer women are involved in the crime, they are usually overlooked. This neglect leads to the pathetic condition of women prisoners. In the proposed paper we shall try to trace the reasons for the absence of special provisions in law for women prisoners despite of their peculiar needs. This paper attempts a critical analysis of legislative and judicial efforts so far and their impact. It finally proposes a legal amendment in the Prison Act so as to make it more inclusive, gender sensitive and empowering.
2011
The attention given to female criminality is marginal compared to the degree of research conducted worldwide on male criminality. Though there have been some scholarly writings concerned exclusively on this area, however, almost without exception both the research upon which they were based and the conclusions drawn have been coloured by age old myths about the nature of women in general, that is , women are passive, more emotional than men, gentler in nature and inferior to men. However, prisons for women are unlike institutions for men, and women adapt to the prison environment differently than men. So, because of these important reasons women’s prison was separately studied by the researchers. The research work is based on practical observations made during the visit to the lone women jail of State of Punjab, Ludhiana. The paper is divided into four parts. It starts by highlighting the international historical development of women jails with its peculiar features. The next part o...
Women Prisoner’s Rights in India: A Myth or Reality
Journal of emerging technologies and innovative research, 2021
Women have faced several ups and downs in their social status. In present society also, the condition of women is not so good. There are various rights for the women to improve their social status but they are unknown to them due to patriarchal society and lack of education. So, their status is still deplorable in the society. Yet, there are various great women who are willingly enjoying their rights and socially empowered and they are making the glorious name of our country, but the ratio of these women are very few. Most of the women are dependent on their father, sons or husbands. The study of women criminality is neglected and it is not the primary area of research for the researchers. As few women are involved in the criminality and very few go to the prison, but the ratio is increasing day by day. There are several rights of women prisoners but seems to only on papers and only for specific section of the society. This present paper focuses on the rights of women prisoners in India as they are myth or reality or whether they are followed in the prison environment or they are only on the government records. The researcher has used secondary method of data analysis for her study.
WOMEN CRIMINALS: A CASE STUDY OF FEROZEPUR CENTRAL JAIL.(PUNJAB) INDIA.
The Constitution of India guarantees equality to women and various laws have been enacted to protect and empower women. While some women have definitely benefited from these provisions, for the majority of poor and illiterate women life still remains a struggle in a very traditional, patriarchal and feudal society. The pathetic situation of women prisoners, branded as bad women who deserve bad treatment, is not surprising. There were 31 convicts and 50 undertrial women in the Ferozepur central prison at the time of our study. The study was conducted from 22 January to 10 February 2010. Observation, questionnaire, interview methods were used for the study. Convicted prisoners are those whose term of punishment has been decided by the court of law. Undertrials are those prisoners whose cases are being heard in the court of law and they may or may not be found guilty of the accusation of crime. Only 50 undertrials womens have been included in this study and women prisoners found highly unsatisfactory conditions. Basic facilities are lacking for the women and their children; also the prisoners are visibly scared of the prison staff. There is scope for vast improvement, on all levels, particularly in the attitude of the prison staff who need to learn to respect the human rights of women prisoners.
An Empirical Study of Women Prisoners in Central Jail in Srinagar
2019
Women have been held in contempt, used and abused, tortured and suppressed by patriarchy as a system in which men subjugate women, a system which is universally pervasive, durable over time and space, and steadfastly maintained in the face of occasional challenge. From the years of formative socialization, the male child grows up in a culture that positively values maleness and devalues femaleness. The male becomes increasingly aware and arrogant of his own identity and through time tries to attain distance and a sort of separation of identity from the woman. During adulthood, the males already have a strong chunk of emotional carryover from early years of infancy and toddlerhood towards women and with time they develop a negative attitude towards women, a sort of superiority complex that pushes them to control and subjugate women. The female child grows up in a culture that devalues women and she develops a submissive<br> attitude. Radical feminists argue that in every social...
Status of Women Prisoners – A Sociological Study
IJIRMPS, 2018
Crime is common to all countries and to all societies. Crime presents itself basically as a manifestation of the dis-functioning of a social system. The fact that social structures and value systems have been changing in most developing countries has had a pronounced effect on both, the nature and the composition of crime. Traditionally, the Indian women has been the foundation stone of the family and society in general. She creates life, nurses it, guards and strengthens it. In her task as mother, she plays a vital role in the development of the nation. In many countries, in all regions, the female prison population has increased dramatically over the last ten years. This article assembles data that identify some problems experienced by women incarcerated in prisons in India. Traditionally, the Indian women has been the foundation stone of the family and society in general. She creates life, nurses it, guards and strengthens it. In her task as mother, she plays a vital role in the development of the nation. In many countries, in all regions, the female prison population has increased dramatically over the last ten years. The present study is an attempt in this direction to understand the need and necessity of prison reforms, to identify the problem, the limitations, and its operational drawbacks, and to offer appropriate suggestions to make the prison system more effective and humanized one. The impact of inadequate health and mental health services on the lives of these women is explored, and separation problems encountered by the woman prisoner and her family are examined. Some recommendations for change are suggested.
Women Prisoners: A Case Study of Central Jail, Kot Lakhpat, Lahore
2014
AbstractDespite having kaleidoscopic culture, discrimination of womenfolk is quite common in Pakistan even today - seemingly fulfilling an undeclared agenda that women should be restricted from having liberty, education, economic exposure, and rights. But going behind the bars makes them even more vulnerable and adds to their exploitation because of the stigma they carry for whole of their lives. This descriptive research deals with the crucial issue of women prisoners in Pakistan; identify the factors that lead the involvement of women in criminal activities; and looks into the condition of women prisoners in jail through qualitative methodology.Key words: Women prisoners, Centrul Jail Kot Lakhpat, discrimination, criminal activities, courtsIntroductionPakistan is a multi-cultural society practicing various traditions and customs, yet discriminatory attitude towards womenfolk is quite common. It seems an undeclared agenda that women should be restricted from having liberty, educati...
Women Prisoners in Odisha: A Case Study of Angul and Talcher Jails
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This thesis is an attempt to understand the lives of women prisoners in Odisha. It focuses on Angul and Talcher jails and initiates conversations with women prisoners to understand the level of anxiety and depression faced by them. The objective of this research project is to evaluate the anxiety of freedom faced by women prisoners. It also documents life of the prisoners when they are in the jail and tries to study their outlook towards life and freedom. Stress, anxiety and depression were among the most frequently reported problems in the cases under review though in several cases prison life was more comfortable than everyday harassment for some women. Women in prison face many problems in their life during their jail-term and there is a growing level of anxiety towards dealing with life after imprisonment. While they spoke of the particularities of their own lives, during my conversation I found that their past, present and what they do in future life were of ample significance....
Sociology and Criminology-Open Access, 2015
Although research is unanimous in underlining the particularly detrimental effects of prison on women, their special needs are rarely taken into consideration. The change in the composition of the prison population has highlighted the shortcomings in almost all prison systems in meeting the gender-specific needs of women prisoners. Any modern approach to provide a more acceptable criminal justice policy for women must pay greater attention to their problems. In particular there is need to give attention to the situation of women and children in the prison and apply gender perspective to policies and programme for them. In India, only a few studies worth their name have been conducted on prison life of women criminals. This article is outcome of the major research project funded by ICSSR, New Delhi. This study focused on the women prisoner and their dependent children residing in the eight central jail of Rajasthan. The purpose of the present study is to identify the key issues of the problem faced by women prisoners and their dependent children in the jail and gather the information and ideas on ways in which these issues could be addressed better. Further the aim is to assist legislation and policymakers in framing of policies on the basis of understanding of ground reality.