VARHAD prevent further criminalization of prisoners in the Criminal Justice System and work to make them constructive members in the society after their release. We also work with families of prisoners, specially the children to reduce their vulnerability to crime as victim or offender.

Balwadi (For children of prisoners in the prison)
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. Near about 107 children who complete the prescribed age limit in prison & whose mothers were released from the prison were benefited.

Education To Children of Prisoners
We also focus on education of children of prisoners left outside. We found that in most of the cases education of children of prisoners suffers. 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.
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Literacy Class For The Women Prisoners
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.
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Training Center For Women Prisoners
As per the Prison Manual there should be arrangement for the education & vocational training for inmates inside the prison. The women prisoners did not had any training facilities or factory in the prison. In comparison with male section, strength of female section is very less. The ultimate objective of the imprisonment is reformation & development through constructive activities. Therefore we started a Vocational Training Center for the women prisoners in the prison. The training center provides long-term training like tailoring and various short-term training like Embroidery, Ceramic Painting, Mehandi Application, Bharatkam etc.
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Parole & Furlough
Imprisonment means cutting down the person from his liberty, from his social bonding & separation from his family. Imprisonment is the period given for the reformation of his legally unacceptable behaviour. But in the reformative prison system we cannot deny the importance of the family bonding in the reformation process. After imprisonment the prisoners are going to be release in the society. Therefore their contact with the family & with the society needs to be maintained. So that he can finally rehabilitate in the society. Therefore convict prisoners are given the parole & furlough facilities just to test their behaviour in open environment & their adjustment with the society. Parole & Furlough enable the prisoners to obtain his release & to return to the outside world for a short prescribed period. These facilities enable inmate to maintain continuity with his family life & deal with family matter.
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Savitribai Phule Rehabilitation Center
Imprisonment has stigma attached to it. For the release women prisoner it is very difficult to earn her livelihood & adjust herself in the society. After release from prison, prisoners face economically dependent & stigmatized life. In the year 2003 the Collector Mrs. Manisha Varma inaugurated rehabilitation Center. The objective behind starting this Center was to provide immediate temporary shelter for women released from prison. This also caters as emergency shelter for family of prisoners coming from far places for visit to prisoners in the prison. Provision for emergency lodging and boarding is made available to extremely deserving cases.
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After Care Services
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.
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Family support & Family Contact of Prisoners maintained by VARHAD
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.
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Educational, recreational, & cultural services to prisoners
VARHAD is also working for promoting healthy and positive environment in the prison. 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.
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Assistance to avail Government schemes
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.
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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.

Aftercare services to the release prisoner demonstrate need of fulltime work with or in police station. Previous criminal record is one of the main obstacles in reformation of release prisoner. Social workers counsel prisoner since his first interaction in prison. We engage financial and other resources for release and aftercare services. Sudden action from police only based on his previous criminal record washed out all our efforts. Therefore we interact with concern police for reformation & rehabilitation of release prisoners. It is strongly required in the cases of habitual offenders & history sheeters. Police Department has prejudice about the reformation & rehabilitation of the persons punished for offences like theft or robbery.
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