Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

October 30, 2023

India: how prisons struggle with mental health

News

Asia Access to legal rights Health Mental health Facilities India

Poor facilities in prisons & restricted healthcare access can lead to inmates suffering from bad mental health.

October 22, 2023

India: Parliamentary panel recommends GPS trackers to reduce overcrowding

News

Asia Justice Overcrowding Alternatives India

The panel noted that overcrowding and delayed justice has led to a series of consequences for both the prisoners and the criminal justice system.

September 29, 2023

India: denied basic facilities, women prisoners impacted far worse than men

News

Women Asia Material conditions India

On August 29, the Supreme Court sought the views of the Centre and the states on the Justice Amitava Roy Committee report submitted on December 27, 2022, underlining that the correctional justice system is “evidently gender exclusionary”.

July 27, 2023

India: forest-dwelling communities in the crosshairs

Interview

Asia Access to legal rights Justice India

In 1972, the Wildlife Protection Act was established to protect wildlife in India. It has led, however, to the criminalisation of an already marginalised part of the population: the forest-dwelling communities. The CPA project told us what this means in practice.

July 27, 2023

India: high prevalence of skin disease among prison inmates

News

Asia Health India

A screening camp conducted by the Indian Association of Dermatologists, Venereologists, and Leprologists (IADVL), Kerala branch, at 10 prisons in the State has revealed that about 30% of the inmates having skin diseases had fungal infections.

July 24, 2023

India: meet the social workers helping prisoners who languish in jail despite getting bail

News

Asia Justice Rehabilitation India

“Most of the prisoners whom we deal with are people who don’t have money or contacts in high places. We try to help them access their rights.”

June 22, 2023

India: UP prisons to be known as "reform homes"

News

Asia Material conditions Rehabilitation India

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, while reviewing the condition of prisons in a high-level meeting on Thursday, gave important guidelines towards prison reform.He expressed the need to establish prisons as ‘Sudhaar Grah’ (Reform Homes) and issued instructions regarding the preparation o…

May 26, 2023

India: Tihar Jail violence, no quick-fix solutions, judicial reforms necessary

News

Asia Violence India

Tihar Jail, located in New Delhi, is one of South Asia’s largest and most notorious prison complexes. The prison was intended as a correctional facility, but the growing spate of violence and gang wars within the jail has cast a shadow over its reputation yet again. Why have the authorities been un…

May 12, 2023

India: recreational activities held for kids of women prisoners

News

Women Asia Activities India

Recreational activities will be organised for the children of women inmates in jail in connection with project “Khushi” a campaign of the Chhattisgarh State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) to provide a different environment to children suffering for a crime they have not committed while staying wit…

April 27, 2023

India: central government to release special scheme to help poor inmates to pay for bail, leave prison

News

Asia Justice India

The MHA has been contributing financially to the State Government’s efforts to upgrade and modernise the jail security infrastructure.

February 22, 2023

India: Physiotherapy centre set up in Berhampur jail

News

Asia Material conditions India

A physiotherapist voluntarily provided some basic equipment to make the unit functional

February 22, 2023

India: Illiterate once, Ajmer jail inmates now write letters

News

Asia Material conditions India

Ensuring that illiterate prisoners return home as educated people is the motto of this social reform programme in jails

January 11, 2023

India: Delhi HC says undertrial prisoners can’t be detained in custody for an indefinite period

News

Asia Justice India

The court says the object of jail is neither ‘punitive nor preventive’ and that deprivation of liberty is considered a punishment.

November 28, 2022

India: prisoners on life term can be freed after 14 years

News

Asia Justice India

The Pushkar Singh Dhami-led state cabinet on Monday gave its approval to a home (prison) department proposal that recommends release of prisoners serving life imprisonment after completing a 14 years’ jail term on the grounds of good conduct.

November 8, 2022

India: Supreme Court reprieve for mentally ill man on death row

News

Asia Mental health India

Taking into account the plight of a condemned prisoner who became mentally-ill after being kept in the solitary confinement for more than 10 years, the Supreme Court on Friday commuted his sentence to 30 years’ jail term without remission.

March 24, 2022

India: State extends jail term for those found using cell phone in prison

News

Asia Justice India

Prisoners using prohibited articles inside the jail are imposed imprisonment of six months and fine not exceeding Rs 200.

January 18, 2022

India: detention conditions of people sentenced to death

Analysis

Asia Access to legal rights Material conditions Death penalty Torture Social ties India

Most prisoners sentenced to death in India have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment during their judicial process. This can take several years given the duration of the procedures.

October 12, 2021

India: ‘Prison To Pride’, Yerwada Central Jail To Soon Launch Sports Training For Prisoners

News

Asia Activities India

Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has appointed expert coaches to train players from Yerwada Central Jail.

October 12, 2021

India: death rate up, jails to get ‘suicide watchers’

News

Asia Suicide India

The Punjab Prisons is training a unique squad of “suicide watchers” as a study of suicides between 2017 and 2019 found that nearly 42 per cent of the victims died by suicide within a month of incarceration. Fifteen per cent could not last even 48 hours in jail.

September 10, 2021

India: rules laid down to prevent inmate suicide in jail

News

Asia Mental health Suicide India

Superintendents of jails have been asked to conduct an environmental audit in jail to find aout vulnerable places and articles that may help inmates commit suicide and take immediate preventive measures.

June 8, 2021

India: remote hearings and the rights of accused persons

Analysis Opinion

Coronavirus Asia Access to legal rights India

ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Madhurima Dhanuka discusses the impact of remote hearings on fair trials.

May 3, 2021

India: almost all jails in Maharashtra overcrowded, prison officials struggle to enforce ‘equitable distribution’

News

Coronavirus Asia Material conditions Overcrowding India

In the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, all jails, including Mumbai Central, Thane, Taloja, Kalyan, Byculla and Byculla women’s jail, are overcrowded.

March 30, 2021

Inde : Covid et prison, la vie carcérale pour ces femmes oubliées de la pandémie

News

Coronavirus Women Asia Material conditions India

This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French

March 23, 2021

India: Maharashtra prison dept starts vaccination for inmates at Arthur Road Jail

News

Coronavirus Asia India

Maharashtra prison department has started Covid-19 vaccination drive for the inmates at Arthur Road Jail or Mumbai Central Prison.