Overcrowding above 100 pc in Yerawada jail's women ward: NCW

Pune (Maharashtra) [India] May 3 (ANI): Overcrowding is above 100 percent in the women ward of Pune's Yerawada Central Prison, said the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Thursday.

The NCW stated this after a team led by its lone male member Alok Rawat inspected the prison.

It added that overcrowding remains a major problem in Yerawada Central Prison where 282 women inmates are kept in a prison with a total capacity of 126 inmates.

Giving details, Rawat elaborated, "Out of this 164 are convicted and 118 are undertrials. There is one foreign inmate and a total of 10 children are staying with their mothers in the prison. These numbers are lower than what had been indicated by Justice Anand in his National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) report of 2003. Each and every action point contained in the report was checked and the needful has been carried out."

The inspection was carried out for assessing and looking into various aspects including overcrowding, availability of legal help, rehabilitation plans including skill development and training, legal awareness for women inmates, proper facilities for the children of these inmates among others.

The inspection conducted today is a part of the NCW's ongoing project to visit all jails in the country in order to formulate a manual for comprehensive prison reforms for women inmates in India. A number of jail inspections have been planned by the Commission for the coming months.

The Yerawada Jail was established in the year 1871 and is located in what is now prime land in Pune. Several of the buildings carry the heritage tag. Renovation and modernization efforts towards provision of better amenities to the inmates have been carried out, effecting a marked improvement in washrooms, toilets, and other facilities. Use of solar power for providing warm water to inmates was also operational and health facilities provided seemed to be adequate.

The jail authorities are striving to involve non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in their efforts to improve the living conditions of inmates, as also to provide them skills aimed at their rehabilitation. (ANI)