Social worker and trainers establish contact with under trial and convict prisoner, with view to provide social services and motivate them toward reformation and rehabilitation. The social workers interact with prisoner and collect information about the case and family status. We pay home visit to mobilize resources for welfare of the prisoner. Social worker does liaison work between the prisoner and his family & the other component of the Criminal Justice System. Emergency assistance is provided to the families of prisoner particularly to the children and women.

Before our intervention there were 12 children (age around 6 months to 5 yrs) in female section. The psycho-social development of the children was totally jeopardized in the prison. The standard of living, behavoiur, and language were totally affected by the negative environment of the prison life. Their access & exposure was limited to the female section. The result of that, these children were even unable to differentiate between two different genders. Our constitution assures right to education, healthy & favourable environment for the growth & development as the basic right of every child. Contrary to this, from years after years these children were deprived of their basic right to education. Through Survey we observed that the basic right of education of children has been violated in the prison setting from ages.

Therefore In the year 2001, VARHAD started Balwadi in female section in Amravati Central Prison. Initially there were only 12 children; at present this is the 5th year of the Balwadi. We provide dresses and additional nutritional diet like biscuit and fruits to the children. We are providing them the quality education & preparing them to join mainstream education once they are out of the prison. The Balwadi has brought considerable changes among the children. Near about 107 children who complete the prescribed age limit in prison & whose mothers were released from the prison were benefited.

Varhad renders maximum services to the children of prisoners for education. We also focus on education of children of prisoners left outside. These children are from five districts in western Vidharbha whose parents are imprisoned. There are children whose either or both the parents are imprisoned. Also there are children whose one parent convicted for life and other parent is dead. These children stay with their relatives because of imprisonment of their parents. We found that in most of the cases education of children of prisoners suffers. They are forced by the guardian either to work or to neglect education for payable jobs. This can make them vulnerable to exploitation and to indulge in criminal behaviour.

First of all our Social Worker interacts with prisoners inside the prison then according to the request given, we pay home visit.

The second thing is the information about the socio- economic status of the family & resources allotted for the child from the family.

Our social workers analyze the situation & then decide whether child needs monetary support or the supervision of the elderly or both. In maximum cases we try to keep children in the family. Residential institute is the last option we access in the best interest of the child.

In this whole process social worker gives psycho-social support to the child as well as try to prepare the guardians to continue the education of the children at any cost.

If they are unable to bear the expenses for the child then with the due permission of the parents & guardians we adopt them for education and admit them in residential school. We have sponsorship programme for education of children who live either with single parent or with relative.

We provide school uniform, stationary, material for their daily requirements. The most important thing is our social worker keep regular contact with the residential school where these children are admitted. For the balance growth & development of the individual, childhood needs care, protection, guidance & supervision of a caring adult. Because of imprisonment their parents are unable to perform this responsibility. Our social worker plays that role in the growth & development of the child.

Our social worker keeps regular contact with the children as well as with the prisoner & their guardians. Their contact is maintained with imprisoned parents through regular visit to prison in open environment without any barricade. Our workers keep regular follow up with the children, prisoners, relatives, school and various government institutions. Education of the children in difficult situation is the State’s responsibility & they are entitle for the assistance from the government for education. Therefore to avail the resources for the education & to strengthen the NGO – government relationship for this cause, we built up network with Women & Child Welfare Department & various other departments related to the children issues. With the joint partnership we have admitted 80 children in various residential school.

As per Prison Manual, there should be arrangement for the literacy class for the illiterate population. We had observed that majority of the women prisoners were illiterates. Imprisonment leads communication gap between women prisoners & family members. They were depending on literate prisoners to communicate with their own families & the outside world. They were unable to understand their communication with court, advocates and sometimes pay heavy prize for that. Therefore the literacy class was started for the women prisoners. The Balwadi teacher also conducts literacy classes for the women prisoners. For the literacy classes, provision of slates, pencils, books, etc. have been provided by the VARHAD inside the prison. We have conducted 4th standard examination in collaboration with Amravati Municipal Corporation. All candidates whom attempted were passed. Now they are preparing for 7th standard examination from prison. Two totally illiterate women aged about 60-65 years have got well trained and have become capable of appearing for the 4th standard examination. The women prisoners have shown considerable improvement. The literacy class plays supportive role to the vocational training provided to them because some training requires minimum literacy level. This activity enables them to maintain communication with their family & to build their capacity to participate in various training.