WSJ: “For Vimla Mehra, running one of the world’s largest prison complexes is like managing a big household.
“Women can do it better, because it’s just an application of natural work that we do at home,” Ms. Mehra told The Wall Street Journal’s India Real Time on a recent afternoon.
The 57-year-old divorced mother is the second female director general of Delhi’s Tihar Prison, which has 12,000 inmates — 540 of them women — kept in 10 jails.
Kiran Bedi, the first woman to head the prison, stood down in 1995 after two years in the role. Ms. Mehra took over in August last year.
Since then, Tihar, already home to some of India’s most notorious prisoners, has housed the suspects in the Delhi gang rape case that led to the death of a 23-year-old woman in December, prompting protest and outrage across the world.
A “motherly instinct” helps her interact with prisoners on an emotional level, but also made it difficult for her to be associated with suspects accused of such brutality, Ms. Mehra said.
“I was really distressed by what had happened to the young woman,” she said. “I was connected with the case because the suspects are with me [in Tihar] and it was very disturbing mentally.”
As director general, her duty of care is to the prisoners.
“We have to keep them properly so that no body hurts them, which every other inmate wanted to do,” she added.
via ‘Running a Prison Is Women’s Work’ – India Real Time – WSJ.
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