Tihar’s Jail Number 6 is home to over 400 women prisoners who engage themselves in running a full-time kitchen and an in-house beauty parlour and also attend tailoring and embroidery classes. It has helped them shed their past baggage and hope for a future where they can earn and gain recognition using the skills they are learning now.
Unlike the male prisons in Tihar that grab headlines for being a hub of extortion rackets, hitjobs and frequent inmate scuffles, Jail 6 has an “environment of sisterhood and harmony” and has not witnessed any major offence in the past eight months, officers said.
Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal conducted an inspection of Tihar’s women jail on Monday to check the living conditions of prisoners. The team sent recommendations to the jail authorities and government after their visit to the prison.
During their visit, the team led by DCW chief Swati Maliwal found three women kept in a congested cell with no separate entry to the toilet. The commission recommended the jail authorities to cover the toilet inside the jail cell.
The team also learnt that one lawyer visits the jail in the afternoon to help the inmates with legal aspects of their cases. The commission asked the authorities to increase the number of lawyers to five for better legal assistance.
The prison authorities told the DCW team that several initiatives have been taken to ensure the rehabilitation of women inmates. However, some courses have been suspended due to lack of teachers and trainers.
Women living in Tihar manufacture clothes, office files, biscuits, snacks, jewellery which are sold in stores. The DCW recommended wide promotion of these products and asked the government to encourage departments to buy products from Tihar. The team said online portals could be roped in to help sell products made by inmates
