Author: Kanak Kumari, Symbiosis Law School, Nagpur
To the Point
The prison system that previously existed in India is being transformed with a punitory paradigm of a prison to a rehabilitative one, which was more of a black-white colonial aspect. Its lead in that change is through the Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023. The term, Prisons, is a State-List subject and therefore, a piecemeal and uneven implementation of this subject is observed state to state. Noteworthy judgments have been made at the Supreme Court. They widen the basic rights in Article 21, annexing in legislative vacuum, making the executive act on dignity, speedy trial, legal aid, health, and rights of vulnerable groups. The recants judgment strengthens further these safeguards. But extreme overcrowding, mostly as a result of a large percentage of undertrial prisoners, is the biggest pressing issue. This congestion exacerbates abuse of human rights, inappropriate facilities, illness outbreak, and the incapability to enforce rehabilitation effectively and presents a cycle of system malfunction. Understaffing especially with medical and mental health professionals and low utilization of funds allocated depict serious administrative and attitude issues. Embarking on new laws is not enough to promote prison reform. It requires effective implementation, use of sufficient resources, judicial effectiveness, attitudinal reformation among the prison staff, and a continued emphasis on correction and reintegration such as encouragement of entitlements other than imprisonment.
Governmental Launches and Recommendations- The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) usually directs States and Union Territories (UTs) to guide and financially support them on prison Administration including the best practices as well as technology-driven projects. Some of the important initiatives are:
Model Prison Manual, 2016 and Model Prisons and correctional services ability, 2023. The achievement through these documents is to standardize and modernize the prison administration, plus focusing on prison reform and rehabilitation.
Repatriation prisoners act 2003. This Act aids foreign correction/inmates to be able to serve their sentence back home. Modernisation of Prisons Project. These guidelines provide infrastructure upgrade between states and UTs.
e-Prisons Project: Biometrics, CCTV and some form of digitization technologies are being introduced to manage prisons better and incorporated special remission module.
Support to Poor Prisoners Scheme (May 2023): This programme provides monetary assistance to the states and UTs to enable the poor prisoners to get bail or release since they are unable to pay fines. States are requested to utilize this central fund through MHA to decongest overcrowding, yet the overall implementation is in bad shape as states are not utilizing sufficient amounts of money.
Section 479 of BNSS: Special campaigns have been started towards relief of under-trial prisoners under this.
Advisories: MHA comes out with advisory on the issues of elimination of TB, amendments of prison manuals in accordance with the Supreme Court directions, the visitation right of Queer Community (LGBTQ+) to prisons, training of new criminal laws, Aadhaar authentication of prisoners and visitors, treatment of mental issue of prisoners and staffs, treatment of transgender persons, overcrowding and parole/furlough granted.
Abstract
Leaving the primitive, retributive concept of the Prisons Act, 1894 of the colonial times behind, the Indian philosophy of corrections is also transitioning to a paradigm shift towards reformation and rehabilitation, which model prison law to correctional services, 2023, attests to. The report focuses on the essentiality of judicial dictums especially in terms of Article 21 of the Constitution in broadening the scope of fundamental rights of the prisoners. Despite an extensive work of legislation and courts, even though there are still exist major setbacks that hinder effective application namely systemic overcrowding, under staffing and poor rehabilitative infrastructure. Recently, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released new figures and a number of committees have given recommendations to indicate that there is a severe utterance between what the correctional system of India is supposed to be and what is happening in actual practice. The following analysis will require an effective multi-dimensional approach to develop a system of prisons that will be truly humane and rehabilitative.
Use of legal jargon
The Prisons Act, 1894 and its Limitations
Prisons Act, 1894, has specifies the layout of prisons including providing separate housing of prisoners (Section 4), medical reviews when prisoners arrive (Section 24), separation between groups of prisoners (Section 27) and treatment to sick inmates (Section 37). The Act lays down norms of uniform control of state prisons, treatment of the employment of inmate criminals, and the delineation of the duties of the medical-officers in terms of prisoner health. There are also some other laws having an impact on the life of prisons and rights of prisoners.
The first is Repatriation of Prisoners Act, 2003, which assists in the repatriation of foreign inmates in Indian prisons and provides the facilities to Indians trapped in overseas jails to complete their sentences in India. This Act which became effective on January 1, 2004 fulfils India its international commitments and facilitates the transfer of sentenced individuals by agreement with 31 countries and by becoming a party to multilateral conventions. One can imagine that when these two are combined a sense of disconnect between policy intent and practice on a daily basis is a reality. A lip service approach, which is reductionist in nature will not help to eliminate this gap and shape a truly humane and rehabilitative correctional system.
The new law taken by the government is the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS). It comes into place of the ancient Code of Criminal Procedure 1973. There are a few amendments of the BNSS that influence prisoners. Section 479 is one of them. This category assists those who are on trial and are yet to be convicted thus in a prison.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has been issuing advisories and special campaigns advising the State Prison officials on use of this provision. Such initiatives involved celebrating Samvidhan Divas. Also of concern is the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. It addresses the issues of non-discrimination and accessibility in all the environments including the correctional facilities. These rights have been pointed out in recent court rulings indicating that prisons are required to adhere to the law.
Case Laws
Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration (1979)- Justice Krishna Iyer referred to solitary confinement as awesome loneliness, as well as psychic trauma.
Union of India and v. Dharampal, concurred too, that solitary confinement of prisoners is an additional punishment which prison authorities are not allowed.
In Ajay Kumar Pal the Court after determining whether the case was one of fraud or deception held that the plaintiff/respondent had entered into an agreement under a misconception of fact which provided the foundation of his claim.
The Proof
The Prisons Act of 1894 was the basic prison law based on a concept of the so-called retributive deterrence and hence its primary objectives are to hold people in prison, provide a system of tough discipline, maintain order. It mentions very ordinary things about housing, separation, and even simple health checks. The Act does not think too much about reform or rehabilitation and whipping of male prisoners is even permitted showing how punitive and control-driven the Act is. India began changing after independence. The new agenda is based on the human-rights concepts and new criminological theories that demand a transition out of the straight punishment to more humane and correctional approach. The objective of the rehabilitation of prisons has now shifted to making them places where perpetrators can reform and get back to the society. This is referred to as rehabilitation and reform. The transition in India towards a philosophy of “reform and rehabilitation” rather than that of the retributive deterrence in prisons illustrates great changes in the thinking. The language has improved, but there are not yet all rosy: congestion, lack of staff, and poor rehabilitative services. The everyday business continues to rely on the old punitive way of thinking. These are still caught in the old custodial way of doing things in terms of the culture of the system, money and priorities; which hamper any actual change.
Prisoners especially women are exposed to additional risks. They are afraid of their safety, receive low-quality healthcare, and can hardly receive help with their children. The current percentage of women in the prisons in 2021 (17.1 percent) live in women only prisons; the other women share kitchens and other facilities with the men prisoners. Such a combination poses major privacy and safety issues. As well, prison personnel require a lot of gender-specific training, and women are not able to lodge complaints as easily as male employees due to abuse or harassment. For women, prisons usually lack basic designated medical facilities. The Right of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 gives disabled prisoners several rights and this has extended to jails as well. The Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, Section 55(B), the Rights and Facilities of Prisoners with Disability prohibits discrimination, stipulates accessibility to every building, prescribes proper healthcare (including psychiatric and psychological assistance), requires disability screening during admission, and asks to conduct staff training on a regular basis. In January 2024, the Ministry of Home Affairs also developed the guidelines and standards of accessibility in the Prison Infrastructure, which incorporated architectural layouts of accessible locations, ramps, etc.
Conclusion
The law and the Supreme Court want to humanize imprisonment or rather, shift the emphasis no longer on punishment, but rather on reformation. That attempt is given a sharp shock by the Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023, and from broad readings of Article 21 by the Supreme Court. This is to safeguard dignity, accelerate trials, guarantee legal services, and adequate healthcare and defence of the vulnerable groups within prisons. However, this is not the daily reality and can hardly reflect this bright image. The biggest problem continues to be overcrowding that is mainly due to an overpopulation of people awaiting trials. It puts a strain on facilities, it makes it impossible to expand with staff, and health services are dangerously underfunded. Improvement money goes to waste and long-standing attitudes and out-dated systems never allow reforms to gain hold. Over the past several years, the same guidelines have been issued by experts and most of them are incomplete. Such a discrepancy between professional suggestions and actual practice reveals an actual lack of a political will as well as administrative action.
FAQs
1. What is the most important law in prisons of India? The main law to regulate prisons in India is Prisons Act, 1894. The Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023 repeals this colonial-era law in 2023 and established in its place by the Ministry of Home Affairs. This new act changes the focus to a point of the so-called retributive deterrence to the point of reform and rehabilitation.
2. What does the Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023 talks about? The new Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023 (which replaces a 130-year-old Prisons Act, 1894) introduces new provisions of modern technology, prisoner welfare and rehabilitation, and new provisions of specific rights of the vulnerable groups. It gives an authoritative touch line through which the various states can make their own laws on the prison.
3. What will be the bigger issue of Indian prisons? Indian jails are seriously overcrowded and this is the greatest problem. As per the NCRB figures, the prisons are running at a rate that is more than 130 per cent of the actual capacity with the highest population generally being that of the undertrial prisoners (approximately 76-77 per cent of the total population in the prison). Overcrowding causes: Stressing the resources, poor sanitation, and lack of healthcare that makes rehabilitation difficult.
4. What role does Judiciary play in improving prisons? The Indian judiciary has been in the frontline of promoting prison reforms through giving verdicts that widen and safeguard the rights of the prisoners. It has emphasized the right to dignity, expeditious trial, free lawyer, and fair treatment and this has many times forced the executive to take necessary corrective action and fill in the gaps present in the system.
