PRISON
REFORMS: A RAY OF HOPE IN DARKNESS
“It
is not the prisoners that need reformation. It is the prisons.”
― Oscar Wilde”
1.
INTRODUCTION
The
world celebrates Prisoners Justice Day on Aug. 10 to give message that even
life of a prisoner matters & deserves justice in every form, But the
reality is very different by what we see from outside world. These prisoners
have nothing to celebrate. Conditions in which they are living is inhuman. Here
in India, Prison is a state subject and every state have liberty & freedom
to make changes in the law. They can make laws on their own and implement them,
so sometimes it leads us to more complex situations. It’s very difficult in
country like India to look in issues of prison reforms. The one who are making
laws in our country are usually interested in the issue of the class which is
voting, which results in total ignorance of problems of the prisoners as their
right to vote is also taken away with their freedom as they enter jail.
All
men are born equal and are endowed by their creator with some basic rights.
These rights are mainly right to life and liberty, but if any person doesn't
comply with ethics of the society then that person is deprived of these rights
with proper punishment. human rights advocates say the state of
Indian prisons needs to come into focus again. Most Indian jails fail to meet
the minimum United Nations standards for such facilities, including inadequate
amounts of food, poor nutrition, and unsanitary conditions.
2. BACKGROUND
The
object of punishment during Hindu and Mughal period in India was to deter
offenders from repeating crime. The prisoners were ill-treated, tortured and subjected
to most inhuman treatment. They were kept under strict control and supervision.
During
British rule, they introduced radical changes in the existing prison system. Adequate
steps were also taken to eradicate corruption among the prisons staff. Conditions
of Prisoners were harsher than animals in India and prisoners were treated with
hatred.
There
was no uniform civil code to give punishments. But in year 1835, some major
refofrmation arose. The second enquiry committee in 1862 expressed concern for
the unhygienic conditions in jails, it emphasized the need for proper food and
clothing for the prison inmates and medical treatment of ailing prisoners.
International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Article
10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that
any person deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and dignity.
The article imposes a requirement of separation of prisoners in pre-trial
detention from those already convicted of crimes, as well as a specific
obligation to separate accused juvenile prisoners from adults and bring them
before trial speedily. The article complements article 7 of the Covenant, which
bans torture or other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment, by guaranteeing
those deprived of their liberty with the same conditions as that set for free
persons
UN
Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners
The
United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners came into
force in 1955. The standards set out by the UN are not legally binding but
offer guidelines in international and municipal law with respect to any person
held in any form of custody. They are generally regarded as being good
principle and practice for the management of custodial facilities. It
sets out guidelines for prisoners under sentence which further includes
treatment, classification and individualization, privileges, work, educations
and recreations, and social relations and after-care.
b. Legislation
in India
The
Prisons Act, 1894 is the only consolidated framework with
regards to jail management and administration which operates across all parts
of India. This is an antediluvian act which operates without any amends to it.
This act, however, failed to resolve certain issues. The loopholes in the act
were subsequently addressed in the report of the Indian Jail Committee
1919-1920 pertaining to the rehabilitation and reformation of offenders, which
were recognized to be as the key objective of prison administrator.
Other The important statutes of the Prison laws
in India are as follows –
·
The Prisons Act, 1894
·
The Prisons Act, 1900
·
The Identification of Prisoners Act,
1920
·
The Transfer of Prisoners Act, 1950
·
The Representation of People Act,
1951
·
The Prisoners (Attendance in courts)
Act, 1955
·
The Probation of Offenders Act, 1958
·
The Mental Health Act, 1987
·
The Juvenile Justice (care &
Protection) Act, 2000
·
The Repatriation of Prisoners Act,
2003
·
Model Prison Manual, 2016
PROOF OF THE CLAIM
According
to the Prison Statistics India 2015 report by the National Crime Records Bureau
(NCRB), India’s prisons are overcrowded with an occupancy ratio of 14% more
than the capacity. More than two-thirds of the inmates are undertrials.
Chhattisgarh and Delhi are among the top three in the list with an occupancy
ratio of more than double the capacity. The prisons are overcrowded by 77.9% in
Meghalaya, by 68.8% in Uttar Pradesh and by 39.8% in Madhya Pradesh. In
absolute numbers, UP had the highest number of undertrials (62,669), followed
by Bihar (23,424) and Maharashtra (21,667). In Bihar, 82% of prisoners were
undertrials, the highest among states.
Here
in India, Prisons have very serious health implications. There are some
prisoners who are suffering from various diseases before entering to the prison
or they get effected after coming in the prison. Hence there is no healthy
atmosphere in the prison. It is overcrowded, there is no fresh air, absence of
proper and nutritious food etc. Imprisonment disrupts relationships and weakens
social cohesion, since the maintenance of such cohesion is based on long-term
relationships. The size of the pre-trial prisoners is higher than that of the
convicted prisoner. Pre-trial detention period is the most open period for the
abuse of criminal justice process. Although pre-trial detainees should be
presumed innocent until found guilty by a court of law, and treated as such,
conditions in pre-trial detention are often much worse than those of prisons for
convicted prisoners. Recently Supreme Court panel recommends
several prison reforms that free calls should be allowed to their families,
modern cooking technique should be implemented and video conferencing should be
used in trials.
The
Supreme Court, in its landmark decision in Ramamurthy v. State of
Karnataka (1997)
identified nine major problems which needed
immediate attention for implementing prison reforms:
·
Overcrowding
· Delay
in trial
· Torture
and ill treatment
· Neglect
of health and hygiene
· Insufficient
food and inadequate clothing
· Deficiency
in communication
·
Management of open prisons
Few
more important cases are:
Charles
Sobaraj v. Supdt Central Jail Tihar
The
Hon’ble Supreme Court held that imprisonment does not spell farewell to
fundamental rights although by a realistic re-appraisal, courts will refuse to recognize
the full panoply of rights enjoyed by the free citizens.
The
Supreme Court held that right to life is one of the basic human rights,
guaranteed to every person by Article 21 and not even the State has authority
to violate it. A prisoner does not cease to be a human being even when lodged
in jail; he continues to enjoy all his fundamental rights including the right
to life
Prison system has granted a mission to reform
the convicts and take them back to the society. An ideal prison must provide
adequate work, vocational training, and basic educational facilities as well as
medical and recreational facilities. In India, prison reforms did not emerge
out of the social movement but were necessarily an outcome of the worst
conditions of treatment faced by the political sufferers in prisons during the
period of their imprisonment. The India Judiciary has played a
vital role for the improvement of the Prison system in the past and hopefully
would help in future also. Recently a good news came where many jails including
Tihar of Delhi released thousands of prisoners due to concern of spread of
virus in old aged prisoners in jail. It can be said that it is
just the beginning of a long journey as well as a small step towards better
prison system
In conclusion it must not be overlooked that the issue of prison administration and reformation of prisoners is just a piece of the bigger picture of social recovery. The jail organization alone can’t effectively reform the prisoners. It can just try its modest endeavors to set right the prisoners; however, endeavors will succeed only when our economics, education, social institution and values are appropriately coordinated into a cogent and congenial whole in view of the learning of the human establishment.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://thewire.in/uncategorised/india-prison-conditions
https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/03/31/whats-india-doing-to-keep-its-prisoners-safe-from-coronavirus
https://blog.ipleaders.in/legal-backdrop-prison-reforms/
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l174-Prison-Reforms-In-Indian-Prison-System.html
https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/149011/15/15_chapter%207.pdf
http://www.penacclaims.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Rishabh-Bhargava.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoners%27_rights_in_international_law
Ramamurthy v. State of Karnataka (1997) 2 SCC 642
Charles Sobaraj v. Supdt Central Jail Tihar, AIR
1978 SC 1514
State of Andhra Pradesh v. ChallaRamkrishna Reddy, AIR 2000 SC 2083
The Constitution of India,1950
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