Curtain Raiser

New Delhi, 11th November, 2014

The National Human Rights Commission is organising a two-day National Seminar on Prison Reforms in New Delhi from the 13th - 14th November, 2014. The aim of the Seminar is to access the status of the implementation of the recommendations made in the National Seminar organised by the Commission on the 15th April, 2011 on prison reforms and to discuss what further steps would be needed to be taken to improve prisoners' condition and prison administration with a human rights perspective.

The participants will be senior representatives from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, State Home Secretaries, Director General/ Inspector General (Prisons) of States/UTs, State Human Rights Commissions, Bureau of Police Research & Development, members of the civil society working in the prison related filed and other stakeholders.

The National Human Rights Commission has made numerous valuable recommendations to bring about not only improvements and reform in the jail administration but in the entire criminal justice system itself.

The Commission is deeply concerned about the pathetic condition of prisons and other detention facilities which are plagued with numerous problems like severe overcrowding, understaffing, lack of adequate medical care, physical maltreatment of prisoners including custodial deaths, lack of infrastructure, poor administration and inadequate inter-agency communication, long detention of those awaiting trial, and inadequate opportunities for prisoners to communicate with counsel, authorities and family, etc.

One of the greatest tests for humanity lies in the way in which a society treats those who have broken, or are accused of having broken, the criminal law. Prison staff has a special role on behalf of the rest of society in respecting their dignity, despite any crime which they might have committed.

The Constitution of India confers a number of fundamental rights upon citizens. Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees the right of personal liberty and thereby prohibits any inhuman, cruel or degrading treatment to any person whether s/he is a citizen or foreigner. Article 21 confers Protection of Life and Personal Liberty; "No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law".

The Supreme Court of India, by interpreting Article 21 of the Constitution, has developed human rights jurisprudence for the preservation and protection of prisoners' rights to maintain human dignity. Although, it is clearly mentioned that depriving a person of his life or personal liberty is justifiable according to procedure established by law, this procedure cannot be arbitrary, unfair or unreasonable.

The Indian State is a signatory to various international instruments of human rights, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that: "No one shall be subject to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment". Also important is the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states in part: "All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for their inherent dignity of the human persons".

There are many United Nations codified standards of treatment for prisoners across different economic, social and cultural contexts in a number of documents. These concern themselves with ensuring those basic minimum conditions in prisons which are necessary for the maintenance of human dignity and facilitate the development of prisoners into better human beings. Therefore, both under national as well as international human rights law, the States are obliged to uphold and ensure observance of basic human rights.

This is also a fact that prisons in India are still governed by the century old Prisons Act, 1894, which, in the changed socio-political scenario does not appear to be in tune with the entirely transformed picture of human society. The Prisons Act, 1894 focuses only on prison security, offence and punishment and not on correction, reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners. Changes are required in the areas of delay in trial, legal aid, health and hygiene, prison visits-procedure, food-hygiene, quality service, poor living conditions, women and children-drugs, security issues, lack of educational facility and vocational training, lack of reformation and slow pace of modernization.

The Commission has observed that the number of undertrial prisoners is increasing day by day and the period for which they languish in jails is also a very long. In a few cases, NHRC has found that undertrials are in judicial custody for 24 to 54 years, which is far beyond the punishment prescribed for any offence under the penal law. The delays in trials in courts have also taken menacing dimensions, leading to the overcrowding of prisons. Overcrowding is a root cause for number of problems relating to health, food, sanitation and poor hygienic living conditions. Conditions in pre-trial detention are often much worse than those of prisons for convicted prisoners.

In the year 2013 - 2014 the Commission observed that a many states had the problem of overcrowding. It was high, especially, in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Haryana and Chhattisgarh.

The Commission has made numerous recommendations to bring about not only improvements and reform in the jail administration as well as criminal justice system. Some of the important recommendations are as follows:

" The provisions in the statute (in terms of parole, bail, furlough, short leave and appeal petitions etc.) should be exercised liberally by the concerned officers in each jail to reduce overcrowding.

" Jail Committees may be constituted, having representatives from the inmates, to assist the jail authorities in the cases of paroles, completion of bail documents, release of inmates who have completed punishments and filing of the bail applications by the inmates in the court etc.

" All States/UTs to ensure that the financial status of the prisoners should not go against them. Legal assistance to prisoners must be provided particularly for those who are not in a position to bear the cost.

" Healthcare system of jails should be improved. There should be medical examination of the prisoners at the time of their entry to the jail in the prescribed format and thereafter, a regular check-up be undertaken by the jail authorities and related records should be maintained properly.

" Special attention should be drawn by the State Governments to ensure that the mentally ill prisoners are kept separately in more humane conditions and necessary medical treatment is provided to them protecting and respecting their human rights.

" Educational programmes should be upgraded for both male and female prisoners. Vocational training should be enhanced by imparting computer skills, horticulture, agriculture etc. to the prisoners.

" Reformation-correction and rehabilitation should be worked out with the development departments, to expose them to the skills, which will find them better employment opportunities, once they are outside the custody.

" Frequent opportunities be provided to the women prisoners to meet or unite with their families to address their concern.

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