Our aftercare services are aimed towards reintegration of the prisoner into society and to prevent his future involvement in crime or anti-social activities. In this regard, our social workers do regular counseling of the prisoner and his family. Regular contact and follow-up with them is maintained through home-visits. Individual plans are finalized for both our male and female prisoners in regard to their future economical development.

The first strategy used is improvement of the skills already possessed by him. VARHAD helps to strengthen his earning capacity by legal means. If the client has had a regular job or work before his arrest then we try to reinstate him in his earlier job, for which our workers interact with the previous employer if any and counsel him for the same.

The youth group is interested in learning new skills. They have not had any fixed & legally accepted source of earning before their arrest. Some are referred for vocational training to other organizations or training institutes. There are also cases where the prisoner has learnt some vocational skill already earlier or while in prison. A few male prisoner have been sent for the driving course, and after some monetary help and guidance they have been able to acquire driving license for 4-wheelers. For clients aspiring to set up some business of their own on a small scale, help is extended through provision of hand-carts for selling vegetables, fruits or setting up of a stall for the same. Some prisoners have been given a stipend so as to help them initially gain some experience in managing or handling of such small-scale business and later assisted in setting up the same. Our aftercare services have benefited many released prisoners in gaining a source of income and restoring stability in their lives.

There are prisoners coming from other States in search of employment, and are arrested for petty offences or as preventive action. They do not have any relatives or local contacts in Amravati. After there release, there are high chances of re-arrest since they don’t have any financial resources. Thus, we intervene in such cases and make arrangements to send back these clients to their respective States. Temporary shelter is provided until arrangements are made for their travel back home.

After care services provided by us function as crime prevention activity at one level. It reduces the chances of prisoner being victim & again adopts the anti social activities for his survival in the society.

The objective of the imprisonment is to cut down the liberty of the person & give him the time to reform himself. Any change or reform needs support & appreciation from his beloved persons. But because of poverty, lack of knowledge about procedures or because of stigma this imprisoned population has totally cut down form their families, relatives, & in general rest of the society.

As part of our activity we pay home visits to families of prisoners. During our home visits we have observed that there are prisoners whose relatives do not come to visit them in prison. In Amravati prison, prisoners are kept from five districts from the region. Because of poverty and illiteracy family members do not pay visits to the prisoners. We have even found that there is cases where the family did not paid a single visit to the prisoners once he or she is transferred to the central prison. We also observed that in some cases family do not maintain any contact with prisoners even through letters. There are other reason also like fear of police, disputes within family, and misunderstanding about the prisoners.

Therefore we also work to improve relationship of the prisoner in the family and improve family contacts with the prisoners. After home visits of our workers family contact of many prisoners has been established, which was not there after their conviction. They also come up to give surety for parole and furlough after our home visits and counseling

As earlier mentioned, poverty and the distance involved is one of the main reasons for poor family contact with prisoners. The workers sensitize the family during home visits and through letters. Therefore we started giving financial support to the families of poor and needy prisoners to visits the prison to visit prisoners. Whenever worker pays visits to family and feel that there is need to give financial assistance for visit then he give the support. And also guide the family about traveling and procedure for interview. We pay rupees 50 to 250 per person for a visit depending upon the distance involve. Longest distance from Amravati to their family is 350 kilometer. This practice has improved family contacts of many prisoners. The practice helped to improve emotional attachment of the prisoners with the family member & positive attitude towards the society.

VARHAD is also working for promoting healthy and positive environment in the prison. We undertake some activities to achieve this objective. In the year 2003, about 10 of the male convicts had appeared for the examination conducted by the Akhil Bhartiya Gandharva Mahavidyapeeth, Sangli for singing and playing of tabla and harmonium. This examination was conducted inside the prison premises only. One examiner was present for the examination, which consisted a written exam of three hours and a practical exam of three hours. To help the convicts in their preparation for this examination, we appointed a music teacher who would visit the prison twice a week to train them. Nine of the convicts were able to pass through the examination except for one. Now in 2005, another 15 convicts have filled in their applications for the same examination.

Besides, another three of the convicts are preparing themselves to appear for graduate and post-graduate level examinations. One is appearing for M.A. (Marathi Literature), another for 2nd year B.A., and the third convict for 2nd year B.Sc. These convicts have been provided with the respective study material. Their forms have been filled up and directly sent to the University.

We conduct other cultural activities as per the various days of celebration such Labor’s Day, World Women’s Day, etc. The prisoners are motivated to participate in the program giving them an opportunity to display their individual talent. They are provided with all the necessary clothes, music equipment, etc. for the presentation of the same. Sports activities and competitions are also conducted for the recreation of the prisoner.

Most of the prison population is from socially & economically disadvanted group. Some of them are behind the bars just because of their vulnerable situation. Upliftment of the socially & economically disadvanted group is the responsibility of the state. The state government has various welfare schemes, specifically prisoners comes under schemes like “Indira Gandhi Niradhar Mahila Anudan Yojana”, “Indira Awas Yojana”, “Shravanbal Seva Yojana” for the development & rehabilitation. State has some sanction resources for this disadvanted group. VARHAD is providing assistance to the prisoner to avail this government schemes for their rehabilitation. We are sensitizing the prisoners as well as the family members to avail the schemes for which they are entitling to. Our social Worker sensitizes family members about the purpose of the Scheme, age group, beneficiaries, process, benefits of the schemes, related information, documents required & the contact person for respective scheme. The family members of the prisoners are illiterate & not aware about the various government schemes they are entitle for or even if they are aware, they do not have knowledge about the contact person for that particular scheme or whom to approach, the pattern to write application. We are playing the mediators or facilitator role in this activity. Government departments are the service giving authority & the families of the prisoner are the beneficiaries. We are linking the beneficiaries to the service giving authorities. We are trying not only to mobilize private resources but also the government resources, which are available for this deprived group. With the active participation of the beneficiaries & supportive role of government we are trying to render maximum services to this socially, economically & psychologically deprived group.

We provide medical facilities to the children of prisoners or the family member of the prisoner. Specifically we gave assistance to avail medical facilities to the children of prisoners admitted to the residential school. Due the imprisonment of their parents these children, socially, psychologically, physically get exposed to various ill practices regarding hygiene & sanitation, which may lead to the health related problems. The children admitted to residential school are far away from the family. With the help of the respective residential school we tried to give better medical facilities to these children. Even in the health issues we try to give medical facilities in the best interest of the child.