Chennai gets exclusive prison to reform young first-time offenders

However, now it stands out as a model for the entire country for two reasons — it is the only prison that is exclusive for young, first-time offenders, and more importantly, the treatment of inmates is reformative rather than punitive.

The transformed jail came to effect on August 1, and there currently are 113 inmates in the age group of 18 to 25 years.

A visit to the sub-jail showed how it is different from other prisons. Instead of caging inmates inside narrow cells all day, they are made to feel like being in a training school with yoga sessions and indoor games like carrom in the morning followed by counselling sessions by psychologists and motivation programmes by non-governmental organisations. This is followed by outdoor games such as football, volleyball and badminton in the evening. Their day starts at 6 am and a series of activities keep them occupied till 6.30 pm after which they are locked up post dinner.

A key initiative is to allow parents to meet the inmates without any barrier between them, in the presence of police personnel, as per the orders of Ashutosh Shukla, ADGP (Prisons).

Now, the jail has become the home of young first-time offenders just like the separate observation homes for juvenile offenders.

Prisons often act as the training ground for first-time offenders, where they learn the tricks from other inmates, who are regular offenders, to become seasoned criminals. “Only petty offenders such as snatchers are lodged in Saidapet, while those accused in rape and murder cases are sent to Puzhal central prison. Most of them indulge in robbery and burglary without knowing the consequences. Keeping them away from regular offenders makes it easy to handle them and also make them realise their mistake,” said a prison officer.

It seems to be working. A 22-year-old man from Assam who was remanded in connection with a robbery case is hailed as a carom champion by fellow inmates. A talk with a few inmates revealed they landed in prison after being misguided. “We feared about prison but everyone is supportive here. We have understood that we should not come back here as an accused again,” said an inmate.

“The inmates are young and confused, and their self-esteem is low. We don’t tell them what they have done is wrong. We tell them that they can move on and lead a normal life as a better person,” said Ashok, a counsellor from Prakasha Centre.

Ravi Kumar Paul, a lawyer who runs an NGO called Prism and a key person behind a buzz of activities at the sub-jail told DT Next that they have tied up with the government for a skill test to provide job opportunities for the inmates when they are released. “The probation officers will review the impact of this programme after three months and will come up with statistics on where we need to focus more. There will also be a follow-up once when they are out of prison before the rehabilitation programme is standardised,” he said.