Salwar kameez for females, T-shirts and shorts for males: Kerala jails in for sartorial facelift

Kerala prison inmates will be donning contemporary uniforms soon

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ITDC NEWS R The jails in Kerala, considered to be among the most prisoner-friendly ones in the country, are in for some impressive sartorial changes. Leaving behind decades-old dressing style, the inmateswill be donning more contemporary ones very soon.

While the female inmates will be chucking the white long blouse and mundu, in place since the 1950s, for salwar kameez or house coats, working male inmates will be given T-shirts, bermudas, shorts or pants, instead of the blue colour mundu they wear currently.  

"Women in Kerala society no longer wear long blouses and mundu these days. It's an oddity when the prisoners are made to wear them," S. Santhosh, DIG (Prisons), told The WEEK. "These changes are part of mainstreaming the prisoners," he added.

The colour of the dress is yet to be decided.

According to the DIG, there are less than 200 women inmates across all jails in the state. "Getting new dresses for them will not be a huge burden on the exchequer," he said.

On the other hand, there are nearly 8,000 male inmates, of which 2,000 are under rigorous imprisonment and are assigned harder forms of work. "Our inmates work in various capacities in cafeterias and petrol bunks. They all need to wear dresses in tune with the times," he said.