CHILDREN OF WOMAN PRISONERS IN TN TURN ‘INVISIBLE’ AFTER TURNING SIX

FOR children growing up with their mothers behind Tamil Nadu’s prison walls, life is carefully counted until they turn six. After that, the system stops counting.

- RAJALAKSHMI SAMPATH

The Prison Statistics India 2023 report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveals that 18 woman prisoners in Tamil Nadu were living with 22 children as of December 31, 2023. Once these children reach the permitted age of six, they are handed over to relatives, guardians, or to the care of the Social Defence Department. What happens to them after that remains unrecorded.

Tamil Nadu operates five exclusive prisons for women, with acombined capacity of 2,018 inmates. The state accounts for nearly 1.4% of all woman prisoners in India living with children. However, there is no official mechanism to track these children once they leave prison.

An official from the Tamil Nadu Prison Department admitted that the existing process ends once a child is transferred. “Children are handed over to the Social Defence Department or to guardians chosen by their mothers once they turn six. If the child is placed with a guard-

ian, enquiries are made only when the mother requests it on humanitarian grounds. Beyond that, there is no system to trace them,” the official said.