Psychological Pathways of Female Prisoners in India: From Pre-Crime Vulnerability to Post-Incarceration Mental Outcomes

Abstract

The psychological factors of female incarceration in India require more attention from the mainstream criminological literature. While the debate on prisons in India tends to concentrate on legal and administrative corrections, there has been relatively little attention paid to the psychological factors underlying women’s entry into crime and their experience inside prison facilities. Using Prison Statistics India 2023 and previous research from interdisciplinary perspectives, this paper examines the relationship between the experience of vulnerability, trauma, psychological stress, and female criminality. Specifically, it is argued that many women engage in criminal behaviour not due to their participation in an organized criminal activity but because of their vulnerability to poverty, abuse, social marginalisation, and psychological stress. The study further looks at the role played by prison overcrowding, family separation, and lack of mental health support in emotional deterioration of women prisoners.