Supreme court guidelines on prison reforms

PRISON REFORMS

'Prisons'/'persons detained therein' is a State subject under Entry 4 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. Administration and management of prisons is the responsibility of respective State Governments. However, the Ministry of Home Affairs provides regular guidance and advice to States and UTs on various issues concerning prisons and prison inmates.

Supreme Court guidelines for prison reforms:

The National Crime Records Bureau’s numbers till 31 December 2014, quoted in the order, show that central jails housed 184,386 prisoners as opposed to their capacity of 152,312 and district jails held 179,695 against a capacity of 135,439.

The Supreme Court on Friday kicked off prison reforms with an order directing authorities to ensure quarterly reviews of undertrials, computerization of prisons and providing facilities to ensure prisoners are treated with dignity.

The court asked Undertrial Review Committees in all districts to meet every quarter.
Treat prisoners with dignity. The Supreme Court has been saying this since (the case of) Sunil Batra (1980).
In 2014, a Supreme Court bench ordered strict implementation of the provision of the Criminal Procedure Code which prescribes release of undertrials who have served half their sentence.
For the release of undertrials, the court asked Undertrial Review Committees in all districts to meet every quarter.
The court went on to state that no undertrial should languish in jail for want of bail money. According to the order, 3,470 prisoners had not been released because they failed to furnish bail bonds.
In a step to extend reforms to juvenile homes, the court advised that a document similar to the Model Prison Manual be prepared for juvenile observation homes and safety homes.
It called for an annual review of the implementation of the Model Prison Manual and said that it should not be reduced to just another document.

Note:

The Model Prison Manual is a document prepared by the home ministry dealing with various incidental issues including custodial management, medical care, education of prisoners, vocational training and skill development programmes, legal aid, welfare of prisoners, after-care and rehabilitation, and prison computerization.

The court, in its directions, also touched upon the need to provide quality legal aid to prisoners by empanelling “competent lawyers". The court said that it should be ensured that “legal aid for the poor does not become poor legal aid".
It also said that police personnel in charge of prisons should ensure effective utilisation of funds allocated to them for improving living conditions of prisoners.
Pushing for computerization, the court directed that a management information system be set in place in all central and district jails so that there is better handling of prisons and prisoners.

Source: LIVEMINT

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