Context: Recently, President Droupadi Murmu released a report titled “Prisons in India: Mapping Prison Manuals and Measures for Reformation and Decongestion”. One of the significant recommendations in the report was electronic tracking of prisoners to prevent overcrowding of prisons. In this context, let us understand about prison reforms in India.
Relevance of the Topic: Mains- Criminal Justice delivery system, Prison reforms
| “What should our jails be like in free India? All criminals should be treated as patients and the jails should be hospitals admitting this class of patients for treatment and cure. No one commits crime for the fun of it. It is a sign of a diseased mind. The causes of a particular disease should be investigated and removed. -- Mahatma Gandhi |
Prisons in India:
The Prisons Act 1894 defines Prison as:
- “Prison” means any jail or place used permanently or temporarily under the general or special orders of a State Government for the detention of prisoners, and includes all lands and buildings appurtenant thereto, but does not include:
- any place for the confinement of prisoners who are exclusively in the custody of the police.
- any place specially appointed by the State Government
- any place which has been declared by the State Government, by general or special order, to be a subsidiary jail.
Prisons in India exist at three levels:
| Taluk level | Sub jail |
| District level | District jail |
| Zonal/Range level | Central jail |
Issues faced by the prisons in India:
1. Overcrowding: Occupancy rate means number of inmates staying in jails against the authorised capacity for 100 inmates.
- The overall occupancy rate of Indian prisons has decreased from 140% in 2007 to 131% in 2022. However, despite such a decline, even today the Indian prisons are overcrowded.
- Occupancy Rate for transgenders is the highest at 636.4%.
- The average occupancy rate of 118%, close to 21 states and UT have an occupancy rate of more than 100% out of which there are 9 states & UT whose occupancy rates hover above 120%.
2. Prisons Dominated by the Undertrials: As per Prison Statistics India 2020 Report, 75% of the prisoners are undertrials, the number of undertrial prisoners has increased by 11.7% from 2019. Highest Number of Undertrials lodged in District Jail (50%), followed by Central Jails (36.1%) and Sub Jails (11.9%)
3. Unnatural deaths in prison: Increased instances of unnatural deaths, including suicide, murder by inmates, death due to assault by outside elements, due to firing, due to negligence, accidental deaths inside prison, etc.
- Prison Statistics Report 2020 - Among 189 unnatural deaths in prisons, Suicide (156) was the predominant cause followed by Accidental Deaths (8), Murder by Inmates (8) etc.
4. Understaffing of the Prisons: As per Prison Statistics Report 2020, sanctioned strength of jail-staff was 87,961 while the actual strength was 61,296 as on 31st December 2020, due to vacancies not being filled up.
5. Judicial Backlogs: As of May 2022, over 4.7 crore cases are pending in courts, across different levels of the judiciary (maximum of them in subordinate courts, followed by High Courts). So, there is a need to reduce Disposal time for cases and better Case Clearance Rate (CCR). Both Disposal Time and CCR can be bettered by appointing more Judges in District & Subordinate Courts, High Courts, and Supreme Court.
6. Systemic Discrimination: There is rampant corruption in the prison system which results in discrimination based on the economic situation of a prisoner. Socio-economically disadvantaged prisoners are deprived of basic human dignity and often subject to cruel torture.
7. Poor physical and mental Health: In prison the problem of overcrowding, poor sanitary facilities, lack of physical and mental activities, lack of decent health care, increase the likelihood of health problems. Further, mental health care has negligible focus in Indian prisons.
8. Lack of reformative approach: Absence of reformative approach in the Indian prison system has not only resulted in ineffective integration with society, but also has failed to provide them productive engagement opportunities after their release.
Steps to be taken to improve Conditions of Prisons:
1. Effective implementation of New Prison Manual 2016:
- MHA has approved the New Prison Manual 2016 based on Article 39A of the Constitution which calls for free legal aid to the poor and weaker sections and seeks to ensure justice for all.
- It aims at uniformity in laws, rules and regulations governing administration of prisons and management of prisoners across India.
- Guidelines to be followed as per Prison Manual 2016 includes:
- Under Trial Review Committee to be set up in each district
- Earliest release of under trials as per the provision of law
- Empaneling competent lawyers for the under trials and appointment of jail visiting advocates
- Setting up a legal aid clinic in every prison
- Improvement in the living conditions of jails specially for women
- Management Information System to be in place in all jails
- Legal literacy classes in prisons
- Annual review of the implementation of the Model Prison Manual 2016.
2. Modernisation of Prisons scheme:
- Launched in 2002-03 with the objective of improving the condition of prisons, prisoners, and prison personnel. Various components included construction of new jails, repair and renovation of existing jails, improvement in sanitation and water supply etc.
3. Implement E-Prisons Project:
- Prison is a State subject and modernisation of prisons is undertaken by respective State Governments.
- MHA supports the States/UTs in implementing the E-Prisons project that aims to introduce efficiency in prison management through digitisation.
- The E-prisons project supplements the Prisoner Information Management system (PIMS), developed by National Informatics Centre, which provides a centralized approach for recording and managing prisoner information and generating different kinds of reports.
- The PIMS records Prisoner’s Basic Details, Family Details, Biometrics (fingerprint), Photograph, Medical Details, Prisoner Case History, Prisoner Movements, Punishment details etc. The availability of these details on an electronic platform will be useful to track the status of prisoners and smooth functioning of the prison system.
- National Legal Services Authority had launched a web application in 2017 to facilitate undertrial prisoners for providing them free legal services.
4. Some Under-trials should be released on Bail:
- In 2017, 268th the Law Commission of India had recommended that under trials who have completed one third of their maximum sentence for offences attracting up to seven years of imprisonment be released on bail.
5. Set up Special Courts:
- Special fast-track courts should be set up to deal exclusively with petty offences which have been pending for more than five years. Such fast-track Courts can hear petty offences where imprisonment for an offence does not exceed 3 years.
6. Capacity building of Prison staff:
- The Supreme Court, in September 2017, has directed that there should be proper training for senior prison staff on how to treat and deal with inmates.
7. Skill development of the prisoners:
- Skill Development will ensure the livelihood of prisoners once they are released and facilitate their integration with society.
- Wages that are paid to prisoners who are serving sentences should be increased and should be on par with global benchmarks.
8. Open prisons should be encouraged: (special Jails that exclusively confine only convicted prisoners)
- Convicted Prisoners with good behaviour who satisfy certain norms prescribed in the prison rules are lodged in open prisons. Minimum security is kept in such prisons and prisoners are engaged in agricultural activities.
9. Implement recommendations of All India Jail Reforms Committee - Mulla committee:
- National Prison Commission to oversee the modernisation of the prisons in India.
- Putting a ban on clubbing together juvenile offenders with the hardened criminals in prison and enacting a comprehensive and protective legislation for the security and protective care of delinquent juveniles.
10. Using Information and Communication Technology:
- Trials through video conferencing should be encouraged.
- FASTER (Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records) system introduced by Supreme Court to resolve delay in communication of bail orders from courts to prison.
11. Implement ‘Model Prisons Act, 2023’: It aims at reforming prison management and ensuring the transformation of inmates into law-abiding citizens and their rehabilitation in society.
- It also lays emphasis on the safety of women & transgender prisoners and brings about transparency in prison management.
- It focuses on vocational training and skill development of prisoners and their reintegration into the society.
12. Caste-based division of labour in prisons ‘unconstitutional’:
- In 2024, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud led bench said that assigning the work of cleaning and sweeping to marginalised castes and “allowing the high castes to do cooking directly discriminates... an instance of direct discrimination under Article 15(1)” of the Constitution.
13. Electronic tracking of Prisoners:
- Model Prison and Correctional Services Act, 2023 has introduced the use of electronic monitoring technology as a condition for granting prison leaves for prisoners, it will further ensure:
- Decongestion of prisons: Reduced incarceration numbers while ensuring oversight.
- Cost-effectiveness: It will cut expenses associated with maintaining high incarceration rates. (E.g., Odisha spends roughly 1 lakh/year/undertrial prisoner)
- Rehabilitation incentives: It will encourage good conduct by linking it with parole or furlough opportunities.
- International best practice: Used by countries like the US and UK.
- Concerns:
- There are concerns associated with electronic tracking like social stigma, creating an oppressive environment outside the prison especially for SC/ST communities which constitute 68% of prisoners.
- In one of such cases, SC has stated that “The investigating agency cannot be permitted to continuously peep into the private life of the accused enlarged on bail”.
- The Parliamentary Standing Committee in 2023, while advocating for the cost benefits of electronic monitoring, has noted that such measures must only be taken with the consent of the inmate in question.
Conclusion: Prison administration is an important component of the criminal justice system. Continuous steps should be taken by prison administration to improve the conditions of prisons in India and to work towards behavioral change of convicts and undertrials.