Pune Prison

This was a weird, but still amazing weekend in Pune! The Human Rights and Law Defenders proved to be hard work, but still...fun work! With the worry that we would not have time to experience “India”, Asim is trying to make us have the best time possible, not only by experiencing different areas of the law (by researching and looking at the work they are doing) but also by going to places and meeting people. “Doing social work is not only about researching, is about learning from the people”!
It is very complicated to get permission for foreigners to visit Indian prisons. Apparently it is an experience which the authorities do not want us to have. Even though this happens, Asim managed to get a visit for some American “students” who were coming to Pune. We, the interns, were more than happy to go with the group and get to know what an Indian Prison is all about. And we did... By 9 o’clock we were all in Asim´s office ready to leave. Of course, it wasn´t until around ten that we actually ended up leaving...Indian chaos, everyone gets used to it!
Once we got to the prison we had a surprise, which we are fairly used to at this point given that India is full of surprises: the American “students” were older than Asim himself! The so-called students were a bunch of teachers who later told us that they had come to India to study the application of Mahatma Ghandi´s principles to different parts of the everyday life. Fair enough...good thing I did not doll up thinking I would meet a hot American student!
The first prison we got to visit was the Men´s prison. It was impeccable. They took us to the “museum” that is now the place where Ghandi was held under arrest, they showed us the kitchen with all the hard working prisoners, they even showed us the library where all prisoners were allowed to go and read! Shocking how well rehearsed that visit had been! They did not allow us into the barracks where the prisoners sleep, given that 150 prisoners and 1 toilet should not be pretty! But, if Indian prisons were just what we saw, all the poor people in India would have wanted to get arrested! The women´s prison wasn´t much different: they showed us their working station, the place where they could all be together after 4, the place where the kids under 6 years old could stay with their mum´s, they hospital...well, everything that would make it seem as a very pleasant place! All the prisoners were seating against the wall just watching us pass...it was ridiculous, but still interesting!
For me, the “best part” of it was when we got to see the kids. Until they are 6 years old, children are allowed to stay with their mum´s, having to move out and live with either relatives or put in foster care once they turn 6 years old. However, there was a girl, very tall, and who instantly stood out because she was definitely not Indian! Because the police guard who took us for the little visit had been very communicative, I decided to ask her who she was. Turns out that she was 8 years old, and Finnish, her mum had been arrested because of some passport fraud and she was there awaiting her mum´s bail! It confused me how happy the children were, all playing and singing, and genuinely pleased to see people! It confused me how the finish girl, who I later found out, had been there for only a month, meddled perfectly amongst all the other Indian kids whose mothers had been convicted of some crime. The majority of the women were in because of “narcotics” we were told.
The visit was quick, especially given that all the men were not allowed to go in the women’s prison. Needless to say that the Finnish woman who was in prison for passport fraud was the main topic! It was still discussing the little girl and her mother that we went to visit the open prison. This open prison is a different concept of prison, a prison where there are no “walls”, or cells if you prefer it. The prisoners are allowed to be “free” within the piece of land that has been awarded to them. They cultivate the land during the day, have a chance to get some books from the library, some work at the kitchen and others have different types of functions all over the “community”. On our talk to the prisoners we learned that all of them were “prisoners for life” for having committed murder. Most of them argued that their crime was in the “spur of the moment” and they are now reformed! They all read Ghandi, and even sit the exam about the “Ghandian” Principles! Apparently Ghandi made them see the world in a whole new, softer, light!
Considering that they are in an open prison, we assumed that they were much happier, but has they said “we are still prisoners, it just looks better from the outside”. Having already been more than 10 years in prison, the open prison is a small change, but apparently not that great! To us, it seemed like a great difference, but once again, we couldn’t even see half of it!
After this little talk with the prisoners, we went to talk to the head of the prison of Pune. You looked at the man and instantly felt the power, even we felt intimidated! Unlike most Indian men we met, he was strong, chubby, and even taller than usual! A true prison officer. And as a true Indian Officer, when one of the American Students asked him something along the lines of “do you have many innocent people who end up in jail for many years”, laughing he answered “innocent? But if they have been found guilty by the supreme court how could they be innocent?” No comments Mr. Police Director!
Even though we were only allowed to see what they wanted us to see, it was interesting to get to know what a prison in India looks like, to get a feel for the place. It was a weird, and in a sense, a “fake” experience from which we gained almost no knowledge about prison life or the prisoners in general, but even though this is the case, it is not every day that you get to see what 1/10 of a prison in India looks like!