News November 26, 2024 India: education behind bars. Breaking chains, building economies! Education behind bars is often an overlooked solution to reducing recidivism, fostering economic reintegration, and building a more inclusive society. With India’s prison population exceeding 550 000 imprisoned persons as of 2023, tapping into this human potential can address critical socio-economi…
News October 3, 2024 India: from segregation to labour, Manu’s caste law governs the Indian prison system Caste-based labour is sanctioned in the prison manuals of many states. The colonial texts of the late 19th century have barely seen any amendments, and caste-based labour remains an untouched part of these manuals. While every state has its own unique prison manual, they are mostly based on The Pr…
News August 12, 2024 India: can e-Prison module decongest jails? Supreme Court explores feasibility Overcrowding of prisons is a long-standing problem with Indian jails. But suo motu case in the Supreme Court raises hopes of addressing the issue with the help of technology. The e-Prison module is a digital system designed to streamline the release process for undertrials and convicts, particularl…
News July 11, 2024 India: "very disturbing’", Supreme Court on state prison manuals encouraging caste discrimination The remark came in response to a plea contending “rampant practice of caste-based division of labour, segregation and discrimination” in Indian jails.
News July 9, 2024 India: computer coaching centre inaugurated in Salem Central Prison The Department of Prisons and Correctional Services, as part of its initiative to implement schemes towards rehabilitation of prisoners, opened a computer coaching centre at Salem Central Prison on Tuesday.
News July 5, 2024 India: Supreme Court seeks reply from states and UTs over ‘inhuman’ conditions in prisons The Supreme Court on Thursday asked states and Union Territories to file a detailed reply addressing the inhuman conditions in prisons. The apex court has already taken suo motu cognizance of the conditions in 1,382 prisons across the country, remarking that the problems plaguing jails in India con…
News April 14, 2024 India: can prisoners vote? The prisoners’ right to vote has been a subject of debate for long. Some officials and legal experts say people in preventive detention are allowed to vote, and that undertrials could avail themselves of bail to exercise their right to franchise.
News February 23, 2024 India: the hidden scandal of rape in prisons Female prisoners are ‘supplied’ to male inmates of West Bengal jails, sexual abuse is commonplace and hundreds of children are born in prison. But the women are too scared to speak out.
News February 9, 2024 India: women getting pregnant in West Bengal prisons, 196 babies born Calcutta High Court raises concern over prison reforms after amicus curiae’s submission reveals shocking rise in prison pregnancies.
News January 20, 2024 India: making Maharashtra jails more liveable To control the spread of skin infections and communicable diseases in Maharashtra’s overcrowded prisons, washing machines are being inducted for prisoners to do their clothes and bedding.
News January 1, 2024 India: Telangana must announce a humane prison reform policy The Telangana Congress government should review prison practices for a fair and transparent system that promotes prisoners’ reintegration.
News December 29, 2023 India: right to life includes convict’s right to procreate The right to life includes a convict’s right to procreate, the Delhi High Court has held while granting a four-week parole to a 41-year-old murder convict serving life term so that he could have a child with his wife aged 38.
News December 15, 2023 India: despite campaign, the country saw number of prisoners increase in 2022 By December 2022, India’s prisons were filled to 131% of capacity, up one percentage point from 2021. This is despite a campaign in July last year to identify undertrial prisoners eligible for release, and the country adding 11 prisons since 2021.
News December 9, 2023 India: Delhi, U'khand jails filled with twice the capacity of inmates Despite several directions from the Supreme Court on the subhuman conditions in prisons across the country, jails continue to remain in a miserable condition. The latest figures show that Delhi and Uttarakhand have the worst situation, with almost twice the capacity of inmates in cells.
News October 30, 2023 India: how prisons struggle with mental health Poor facilities in prisons & restricted healthcare access can lead to inmates suffering from bad mental health.
News October 22, 2023 India: Parliamentary panel recommends GPS trackers to reduce overcrowding The panel noted that overcrowding and delayed justice has led to a series of consequences for both the prisoners and the criminal justice system.
News September 29, 2023 India: denied basic facilities, women prisoners impacted far worse than men 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”.
News July 27, 2023 India: high prevalence of skin disease among prison inmates 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.
News July 24, 2023 India: meet the social workers helping prisoners who languish in jail despite getting bail “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.”
News June 22, 2023 India: UP prisons to be known as "reform homes" 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…
News May 26, 2023 India: Tihar Jail violence, no quick-fix solutions, judicial reforms necessary 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…
News May 12, 2023 India: recreational activities held for kids of women prisoners 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…
News April 27, 2023 India: central government to release special scheme to help poor inmates to pay for bail, leave prison The MHA has been contributing financially to the State Government’s efforts to upgrade and modernise the jail security infrastructure.
News February 22, 2023 India: Physiotherapy centre set up in Berhampur jail A physiotherapist voluntarily provided some basic equipment to make the unit functional