Prisons in India

, and their administration, is a state subject covered by item 4 under the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. The management and administration of prisons falls exclusively in the domain of the State governments, and is governed by the Prisons Act, 1894 and the Prison manuals of the respective state governments. Thus, the states have the primary role, responsibility and authority to change the current prison laws, rules and regulations.[1] The Central Government provides assistance to the states to improve security in prisons, for the repair and renovation of old prisons, medical facilities, development of borstal schools, facilities to women offenders, vocational training, modernization of prison industries, training to prison personnel, and for the creation of high security enclosures.

The Supreme Court of India, in its judgements on various aspects of prison administration, has laid down 3 broad principles regarding imprisonment and custody. Firstly, a person in prison does not become a non-person. Secondly, a person in prison is entitled to all human rights within the limitations of imprisonment. Lastly, there is no justification for aggravating the suffering already inherent in the process of incarceration.

Types of prisons

Entrance to the Central Prison in Viyyur, Thrissur district, Kerala.
The Central Prison in Puzhal, Chennai.
A section of the Madras Central Prison before demolition in 2009.

Prison establishments in India comprise 8 categories of jails. The most common and standard jail institutions are Central Jails, District Jails and Sub Jails. The other types of jail establishments are Women Jails, Borstal Schools, Open Jails and Special Jails.

TypeNumberTotal Capacity[2]
Central Jails134159,158
District Jails379137,972
Sub Jails74146,368
Women Jails184,748
Open Jails635,370
Borstal Schools201,830
Special Jails4310,915
Other Jails3420
Total1387366,781

Central jail

The criteria for a jail to be categorised as a Central Jail varies from state to state. However, the common feature observed throughout India is that prisoners sentenced to imprisonment for a long period (more than 2 years) are confined in the Central Jails, which have larger capacity in comparison to other jails. These jails also have rehabilitation facilities.

Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of 11 Central Jails followed by Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu with 9 each. Karnataka and Delhi each have 8 Central Jails.[3]

Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu & Lakshadweep do not have any Central Jails.[3]

District jail

District jails serve as the main prisons in States/UTs where there are no Central Jails.

District old jail Bhopal

States which have considerable number of District Jails are Uttar Pradesh(57), Madhya Pradesh(39), Bihar(31), Maharashtra(28), Rajasthan(24), Assam (22), Karnataka (19), Jharkhand (17) and Haryana (16), Kerala (11), West Bengal (12), Chhattisgarh (11), Jammu & Kashmir and Nagaland (10 each).[4]

Sub jail

Sub jails are smaller institutions situated at a sub-divisional level in the States.

9 states have reported comparatively higher number of sub-jails revealing a well-organized prison set-up even at lower formation. These states are Maharashtra (100), Andhra Pradesh (99), Tamil Nadu (96), Madhya Pradesh (72), Karnataka (70), Odisha (73), Rajasthan (60), Telangana and West Bengal (33 each). Odisha had the highest capacity of inmates in various Sub-Jails.[4]

7 States/UTs have no sub-jails namely Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Chandigarh and Delhi.[4]

Women's Jail

Jails built to exclusively house women prisoners. Most of the staff in such jails are usually women.

Maharashtra has 5 women jails. Kerala and Tamil Nadu each have 3 women jails.[4]

Borstal School

Borstal Schools are a type of youth detention centre and are used exclusively for the imprisonment of minors or juveniles. The primary objective of Borstal Schools is to ensure care, welfare and rehabilitation of young offenders in an environment suitable for children and keep them away from contaminating atmosphere of the prison. The juveniles in conflict with law detained in Borstal Schools are provided various vocational training and education with the help of trained teachers. The emphasis is given on the education, training and moral influence conducive for their reformation and prevention of crime.

Nine States namely, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have borstal schools in their respective jurisdictions.[3] Tamil Nadu had the highest capacity for keeping 678 inmates.[5] Himachal Pradesh and Kerala are the only states that have the capacity to lodge female inmates in 2 of their Borstal Schools.[5] There are no borstal schools in any of the UTs at the end of 2015.

Open jail

Open jails are minimum security prisons. Prisoners with good behaviour satisfying certain norms prescribed in the prison rules are admitted in open prisons. Prisoners, here, are engaged in agricultural activities.

Seventeen states have functioning Open Jails in their jurisdiction. Rajasthan reported the highest number of 29 open jails. There are no Open Jails in any of the UTs at the end of 2015.[4]

Special jail

Special jails are high security facilities that have specialized arrangements for keeping offenders and prisoners who are convicted of terrorism, insurgency and violent crimes. Special jail means any prison provided for the confinement of a particular class or particular classes of prisoners which are broadly as follows:

  • Prisoners who have committed serious violations of prison discipline.
  • Prisoners showing tendencies towards violence and aggression.
  • Difficult discipline cases of habitual offenders.
  • Difficult discipline cases from a group of professional/organised criminals.

Kerala has the highest number of special jails - 16. Provision for keeping female prisoners in these special jails is available in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat, Kerala, Assam, Karnataka and Maharashtra.[4]

Other jails

Jails that do not fall into the categories discussed above, fall under the category of Other Jails. Three states - Karnataka, Kerala & Maharashtra - have 1 other jail each in their jurisdiction. No other state/UT has an other jail at the end of 2015.[4]

The capacity of inmates (male & female) reported by these three States in such jails was highest in Karnataka (250) followed by Kerala (142), Goa (45) and Maharashtra (28).[6]

Expenditure

All states and UTs in India had a combined sanctioned budget of ₹42,788.12 million (US$600 million) in 2014-15 for prison related expenditure.[7]

Prison expenditure is broadly categorised as Plan Expenditure and Non-Plan Expenditure. Expenditure on specific planned activities under the Five Year Plan is termed as Plan Expenditure. Expenditure made for meeting day-to-day expenses and running establishments like payment of salaries, wages, rent, etc. come under the Non-Plan Expenditure. Non-Plan Expenditure may also include activities for development of existing infrastructure and bringing about improvements in the prisons.

Expenditure on prison inmates is categorised as Food, Clothing, Medical, Vocational/Educational facilities, Welfare and Other expenses. Food expenses account for more than half the total expenditure on prison inmates.

Prison population statistics

As of 31 December 2014, there are 1387 functioning jails in India having a total capacity to house 356,561 prisoners. As of the same date, there were 418,536 inmates in jails across in India. Males at 400,855 make up 95.8% of prisoners while females at 17,681 represent 4.2%. As of 31 December 2015, there are 1401 functioning establishments/institutions in India housing a total of 419,623 inmates, which includes pre-trial detainees and remand prisoners. The remand prisoners and pre-trial detainees account for 67.2% of the prison population in India. The official capacity of the prison system is 366,781 therefore, the occupancy level is at 114.4%. Of these prisoners, 4.3% are female prisoners and 1.5% are foreign prisoners.[8]

One of the primary reasons for the overcrowding of prisons is the pendency of court cases. As on March 31, 2016, more than 3 crore cases are pending in various courts, and two of every three prison inmates in the country are under trials. The 4,19,623 prisoners of 2015, for example, included 2,82,076 under trials, or 67%, according to NCRB data. [9] . Some other causes for big pre-trial population are corruption, role of police, prosecutors, and judiciary. Indian police system is heavily understaffed and underpaid [10]. It contributes to high detainees population since there are less officials for accused prisoners to accompany them to court. So, their date for hearing keeps getting pushed back. Prosecutors in India are also substantially burdened. There are many vacant assistant posts, but no incentive has been made to fill those posts to fast track the process. Judiciary department also contributes to such extensiveness of pre-trial detainees. There is a back log of 30 million cases in India. With so many cases to handle, shockingly the number of judges in India is comparatively very low [11].There are only 10.5 judges on average per every million people[12]. Many of the pre- trial detainees are poor and underprivileged [13]. Even though for some of them bail is approved, they still cannot get out because they do not have the money or resources to payout the bail. Many of detainees are also uneducated and completely unaware of their rights. About 71% of pre-trial detainees are illiterate and do not even have a high school diploma [14].So, they are ignorant of many amendments that have been passed, which they can seek to go free

Types of prison inmates

Prison inmates lodged in Indian jails are categorised as Convicts, Under-trials and Detenues. A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison".[15] An under-trial is a person who is currently on trial in a court of law.[16] A detenue is any person held in custody.[17][18]

Prison inmates lodged in Indian jails in relation to non-Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes are classified as civil prisoners. They consist of Convicts and Under-trials. The terms "prison" and "jail" are used interchangeably in India, perhaps reflecting the fact that no significant effort is made to separate "undertrials," as those awaiting trial are known, from convicts.

Prison conditions

Prison condition in India are bad and unhealthy as they are “frequently life threatening” and do not meet international standards. Prisons were severely overcrowded with an occupancy rate of 114% [19]. Prison lacks so much funding that in some areas occupancy level is as high as 277% [20]; almost three times the permitted capacity.

Population

The following table gives the population and occupancy rate of prisons in India annually:

YearNo. of InmatesOccupancy Rate[lower-alpha 1]
MaleFemaleTotal
2009122.8%
2010115.1%
2011356,90216,024372,926112.1%
2012368,18416,951385,135112.2%
2013[21]393,80418,188411,992118.4%
2014[22]400,85517,681418,536117.4%
2015[23]401,78917,834419,623114.4%

See also

Prison officers ranks:

Related:

List:

Notes

  1. ↑ Occupancy Rate means number of inmates staying in jails against the authorized capacity for 100 inmates.

References

  1. ↑ {{cite web|url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-6166.html |title=India - The Penal System |publisher=Country-data.com |accessdate=4 June 2013}
  2. ↑ "National Crime Records Bureau - Prison Statistics" (PDF). ncrb.gov.in.
  3. 1 2 3 "Prison Statistics India 2014" (PDF). ncrb.gov.in. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "PRISON STATISTICS INDIA 2015". ncrb.nic.in. Retrieved 2016-11-08.
  5. 1 2 "Prison Statistics India" (PDF). National Crime Records Bureau. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  6. ↑ "Prison Statistics India 2014" (PDF). National Crime Records Bureau. 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  7. ↑ "Prison Statistics India 2014" (PDF). National Crime Records Bureau. 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  8. ↑ “India.” India | World Prison Brief, 1 Jan. 1970
  9. ↑ "Jails at 14 per cent over capacity, two in three prisoners undertrials". The Indian Express. 2018-04-10. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  10. ↑ • Bhandari, V. (2016). Pretrial detention in India: An examination of the causes and possible solutions. Asian Journal of Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Crime, Law and Deviance in Asia,11(2), 83-110.
  11. ↑ • Bhandari, V. (2016). Pretrial detention in India: An examination of the causes and possible solutions. Asian Journal of Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Crime, Law and Deviance in Asia,11(2), 83-110.
  12. ↑ • Bhandari, V. (2016). Pretrial detention in India: An examination of the causes and possible solutions. Asian Journal of Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Crime, Law and Deviance in Asia,11(2), 83-110.
  13. ↑ • Derek P. Jinks. (2001). The Anatomy of an Institutionalized Emergency: Preventive Detention and Personal Liberty in India. 22 Mich.J. Int'lL, 311.
  14. ↑ • Derek P. Jinks. (2001). The Anatomy of an Institutionalized Emergency: Preventive Detention and Personal Liberty in India. 22 Mich.J. Int'lL, 311.
  15. ↑ Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, p. 311 (2d Coll. Ed. 1978).
  16. ↑ "Definition of undertrial in Oxford Dictionaries (British & World English)". Oxforddictionaries.com. 29 May 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  17. ↑ "Definition of detenu in Oxford Dictionaries (British & World English)". Oxforddictionaries.com. 29 May 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  18. ↑ "Détenu - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary". Merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  19. ↑ v
  20. ↑ Bhandari, V. (2016). Pretrial detention in India: An examination of the causes and possible solutions. Asian Journal of Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Crime, Law and Deviance in Asia,11(2), 83-110.
  21. ↑ "Prisons in India Statistics 2013" (PDF). National Crime Records Bureau. ncrb.nic.in.
  22. ↑ "Prison Statistics India 2014" (PDF). National Crime Records Bureau. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  23. ↑ "Capacity of Jails, Inmate Population and Occupancy Rate at the end of 2015" (PDF). National Crime Records Bureau. ncrb.gov.in. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
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