Background: The Mental Healthcare Act (MHCA) (2017) legally mandates access to care, yet psychosocial mental health care in prisons remains underdeveloped due to systemic and structural limitations. Aim: This review combines published evidence and practice-based insights to analyse the status of psychosocial mental health services in Indian prisons, discuss notable challenges and emphasise recent innovations important to policy and practice. Methodology: A systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar was performed with keywords like “prison mental health India,” “correctional psychiatry,” and “psychosocial interventions in prisons.” Grey literature (NCRB reports, WHO and UNODC guidelines, MHCA 2017) was also sought out. Out of 86 records, 12 studies were kept and synthesised with professional practice observations and translated to biopsychosocial and forensic mental health paradigms. Results: The review isolates recurring obstacles, such as overpopulation, custodial monitoring, stigma, staff shortages and ethical concerns. Concurrently, creative initiatives are being developed, including peer mental health cadres, culture-fitting group therapies (yoga, storytelling, expressive arts), family-based tele-psychosocial treatment and legal–therapeutic alliances. These models promise scalability and stigma reduction, although empirical studies are scarce. Conclusion: Indian prisons are at a juncture: Without systemic change, mental health services will continue to be marginal, but with rights-oriented, trauma-sensitive and culturally attuned psychosocial interventions, prisons can turn into centres of rehabilitation and reintegration. Effective enforcement of MHCA (2017), investment in trained staff and mainstreaming indigenous innovations are essential for sustained change.
Singh et al. (Tue,) studied this question.