Initiatives on Prison Reforms

A seminar on ‘Prison Reforms’ was organised by the National Human Rights Commission in collaboration with the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences on 14 September 2000. Inaugurating the seminar, Chairperson NHRC, Justice J.S.Verma, called for greater sensitivity on the part of the Judges across the country to make the prison reforms effective. More than 70 percent of the prisoners in the country are undertrials and most of them had been undertrials for years. Many of them are in jails for no good reason.

The Chairperson called for intervention of judges to utilise the provisions of bail and thus lessen over-crowding in jails to a great extent. "Many persons enter the prisons as undergraduates in crime. By the time they leave, they are doctorates". Justice Verma exhorted all wings of the criminal justice system to find a solution to the human rights violations of undertrials.

Speaking about the National Human Rights Commission, the Chairperson said that its role was to improve the quality of governance of those in authority, of the public functionaries, and indicate the areas of inefficiency. NHRC ‘s role is complementary to that of judiciary.

NHRC has been focussing its attention on the promotion and protection of human rights of prisoners since its inception. It had issued instructions/guidelines that no mentally ill person should not be kept in prison and during a jail inspection by the Commission if mentally ill persons, were found in the prison, it would award compensation to them or to their kin. The State Government could recover such compensation from the erring jail officials. The Commission had also written to the Chief Justices of all High Courts for effecting speedy trials of cases and release of undertrials and to give appropriate instructions to the District and Sessions Judges to ensure that they visit jails regularly as is envisaged in the State Prison Manuals. The Commission had also issued instructions to all prison authorities requiring compulsory health screening of all prisoners and for sending regular reports to the Commission. The Commission has also taken up the issue of premature release of prisoners undergoing life imprisonment.

The seminar was attended by the Inspectors General of Prisons and some District and Sessions Judges from the States of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Dr. Kiran Bedi, Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi, Shri Ajay Agarwal, DG (Prisons) Delhi, Shri Chaman Lal, Shri Sankar Sen, Shri P.S. Bawa and other dignitaries addressed the gathering. The Valedictory address was delivered by Shri Sudarshan Agarwal, Member, NHRC.

The major recommendations of the seminar are that a paradigm shift is required in the approach of treatment of prisoners. It should be reformative and rehabilitative rather than retributive and deterrent. A National Prisons Policy is urgently required for ensuring uniformity of standards in prison administration and treatment of prisoners all over the country. Prison reforms should go hand in hand with reforms in the other segments of Criminal Justice System. It should include rationalisation of sentencing policy and legal reforms in the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, with a view to reducing over-crowding of undertrials in prisons. Prison infrastructure ought to be augmented to conform to the principle of dignity of the prisoner as an individual. Jails should be modernised in a time-bound and phased manner. There should be a scientific and humanistic classification of prisoners which must be rigidly enforced in all the prisons of the country.

The seminar has also recommended cadre restructuring and improvement of service conditions of prison officials, community involvement through NGO participation for rehabilitation and reformation of prisoners, involving prisoners in participatory management of prisons and vocational training for prisoners. The seminar was of the view that the institution of ‘Board of Visitors’, which is no more functional now, must be reconstituted in all jails. The system of Lok Adalat should also be introduced everywhere. Inquest and post-mortem of every case of death in judicial custody should be made mandatory. Finally, the seminar has stressed that the recommendations of the Mullah Committee, Justice Krishna Iyer Committee, other such Committees and the provisions of the United Nations Minimum Standard Rules should be accepted expeditiously and find reflection in an All India Prisons’ Act and an All India Prisons’ Manual.