27 May 2021 PRISON REFORM

PRISON REFORM

Context

The pandemic has put the spotlight on inhumane conditions in Indian prisons. Many prisoners are tested positive for COVID19. Their deteriorating health without any proper health care seen as a grave violation of human rights.

Present condition of Prison in India

• Indian jails over-occupied

• A total of 1,341 prisons were functional in India as on 30^thNovember, 2018. The total population of prisoners in India was 4.68 lakh against total sanctioned strength of 3.83 lakh.
• From 2016 to 2018, the total prison population in India has increased by 8.2% against an increase of 0.7% in the prison sanctioned capacity.
• Seven states, namely Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Meghalaya and Delhi have an occupancy rate of 150%

Huge number of undertrial

• Most of the prisons are full of undertrial prisoners, their numbers being highly disproportionate to those of convicts (declared guilty)
• An undertrial is a person who is being held in custody awaiting trial for a crime.

Shortage of Prison Staff

• The Prison Department has a perennial average vacancy of 30%-40%. This hinders implementation of Model Prison Manual and various jail reforms.
• Physical production of an accused for a trial in a court remains far below the aspired 100% in several States, mainly because of unavailability of sufficient police guards for escort and transportation.

• Unhygienic Food

  • The preparation of food in kitchens is “primitive and arduous”. The kitchens are congested and unhygienic and the diet has remained unchanged for years now.

Need for prison reforms:

•  Indian prisons face three long-standing structural  constraints: overcrowding, understaffing and underfunding. The inevitable outcome is subhuman living conditions, poor hygiene, and violent clashes etc.
•  Extradition of fugitive under UN Convention directly depends on prison reforms
•  under trials lose four of their fundamental rights: the right to liberty, freedom of movement, freedom of occupation, and freedom of dignity. And the legal right to vote as well.

Challenges in prison reforms:

• Prison is a State subject.
• Prison Act 1894, which governs prisons with modifications is more than a century old and focus more on keeping them alive (headcount) not reform and rehabilitation.
• No separation between hard hand criminals and petty under trails.

Committees on Prison reforms:

Justice Mulla Committee 1983:

• All India cadre for prison staff and Bringing prison under the concurrent list
• Government should form a National Policy on Prisons
• Government to use alternatives to imprisonment such as community service, etc.

Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer committee on women prisoners 1987:

• Separate institutions with women employees alone for women offenders.
• Necessary provisions to restore the dignity of women even if convicted.

Justice Amaitava Roy panel on prison reforms:

In 2018, the Supreme Court appointed this panel. The committee submitted its report on February 2020 with major recommendations includes

• For overcrowding
  • Special fast-track courts should be set up to deal with petty offences.
  • Lawyers – prisoners ratio: there should be at least one lawyer for every 30 prisoners.
• For Understaffing
  • The Supreme Court should pass directions to start the recruitment process against vacancies
  • There should be use of video-conferencing for trial.
• For Prisoners
  • Every new prisoner should be allowed a free phone call a day to his family members to see him through his first week in jail.
  • Alternative punishments should be explored.

Solutions:

• Government should frame a National Policy on prison and form a National Commission on prisons to look into matters more seriously.
• Ensure the holistic development of prisoners like stress management, Yoga, etc.
• Ratifying the UN Convention against torture and sensitizing the staffs about the need to treat prisoners as humanely as possible.
• Changing the people’s attitude that “Everyone inside the jail is not a criminal, he is either an offender nor an under trail”.
• Increasing the budgetary allocation of the Criminal Justice System.
• Encourage Interactive and community policing in all possible ways.
• Open prison or semi open prison has to be encouraged like that in UP and Rajasthan.

Way ahead:

Indian jails dubbed as a university for grooming criminals structural changes are needed to address the key issues. Else, prisons will continue to be heaven for politically connected criminals and hell for socio-economically disadvantaged undertrials.

Downoad Yojna IAS Daily Current Affairs of 27th May 2021

rahul123

Yojna IAS Current Affairs Team