Behind bars, beyond help: India’s prison mental health crisis

Behind bars, beyond help: India’s prison mental health crisis

Mental health remains a deeply neglected dimension of India’s prison system—a system already under pressure from overcrowding, poor infrastructure, and chronic understaffing. While conversations around mental well-being have slowly gained traction in public health and policy discourse, the psychological needs of incarcerated individuals are routinely overlooked. The situation in Indian prisons is nothing short of a silent emergency, where thousa…