“Crime is the outcome of a diseased mind and jail must have an environment of hospital for treatment and care”. – – Mahatma Gandhi
The Prison system was old punitive and deterrent penal system used by the Indian administrators in the ancient days and the medieval days. The modern prison system in India is essentially based on the British prison model which in itself is an outcome of prison developments in America during the late eighteenth century. It will therefore, be proper to trace the evolution of prison system in America, Britain, Russia etc. before dealing with the prison developments in India. After freedom, prison administration in the country has been a matter of intense debate and criticism at various public fora.
There are 149 jails in India that are overcrowded by more than 100 per cent and that eight are overcrowded by margins of a staggering 500 per cent. Among them the Satyamangalam sub-jail in Erode district of Tamil Nadu has 200 prisoners “stuffed” in a space meant for 16 people. These alarming statistics were revealed in the Centre’s reply in response to a question in the Lok Sabha on August 8, 2017.
There are 1,387 functioning jails in India having a total capacity to house 3, 56,561 prisoners and there are 4, 18,536 inmates in these jails. While prisons have been recognized as a correctional facility worldwide, Indian prisons are a perfect picture of rusty, outdated and neglected place for housing human beings and such conditions have a direct impact on the mental and physical health of its occupants. The main culprit is Indian prisons are still governed by a 123-year-old law — The Prisons Act 1894.
The Supreme Court of India, in its judgments on various aspects of prison administration, has laid down three broad principles regarding imprisonment and custody. First, a person in prison does not become a non-person. Second, a person in prison is entitled to all human rights within the limitations of imprisonment. Third, there is no justification for aggravating the suffering already inherent in the process of incarceration.
Prisons in India, and their administration, are 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. 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.
To address these issues the state government needs to build separate prisons for the convicts and the under trial and detenue. The construction of more prisons definitely has to be considered as per population growth and the increase in the crime statistics. The government also has to employ more staff to make the functioning of these places more transparent and humane.
