prison reform
To examine the conditions
of prisons and prisoners in the country, government had constituted several
panels. The courts are have also passed several landmark judgments towards this
including the historic judgement in Hussainara
Khatoon vs State of Bihar case. Two most important committees on
prison reforms are Justice Mulla Committee Report (1983) and Justice Krishna Iyer
Committee on Women Prisoners Report (1987).
Justice Mulla Committee
This committee had given
a number of recommendations of which the notable recommendations are given
below:
·
Since “Prisons” is state subject and central government has
little say in it; it should be moved to concurrent list.
·
The government should come up with a National Policy on Prisons.
·
Government should establish a permanent National Commission on
Prisons. This commission should submit its annual report on prison related
matters to parliament.
·
In every state and UT a Department of Prisons and Correctional Services should
be set up.
·
Government should try to develop a well organized prison cadre based on appropriate job requirements.
·
An All India Service namely the Indian Prisons and Correctional Service to
be constituted to induct better qualified and talented persons.
·
Government should promote research in the field of criminology and penology and to conduct
detail study in the context of emerging patterns of crime in the country. This
will help in proper classification of offenders
·
To incorporate the “principles of management of prisons &
prisoners” in the DPSP.
·
Undertrial prisoners should not languish in the jail and there
should be procedure for speedy trial and simplified bail process
·
The committee suggested the government to use alternatives to
imprisonment such as community service, forfeiture of property, payment of
compensation to victims, public censure, etc.
·
Living conditions in every prison, custody care, rehabilitation
centres should be compatible with human dignity in all aspects such as
accommodation, hygiene, sanitation, food, clothing, medical facilities, etc.
·
Offenders should be provided with adequate opportunities for
diversified education, development of work habits and skills, change in
attitude, modification of behaviour and implantation of social and moral
values.
·
Payment of fair wages and other incentives of leave, remission
and premature release to convicts for improvement of their behaviour should be
incorporated.
·
Appropriate security provisions should be made for custody
suites
·
The management of prisons must take care of human rights of
prisoners
·
The State shall provide free legal aid to all needy prisoners.
·
Children (under 18 years of age) cannot be sent to prisons.
There should be a separate institution for them with facilities for their care,
education, training and rehabilitation.
·
Young offenders (between 18 to 21 years) shall not be confined
in prisons meant for adult offenders.
·
Proper arrangements shall be made for the care and treatment of
mentally ill prisoners.
·
Those convicted for non-violent socio-political economic
agitations for public cause shall not be confined in prisons along with other
prisoners.
·
Government should encourage voluntary participation of the
community in prison programmes and should authorise selected eminent public-men
to visit prisons and give independent report on them to appropriate
authorities.
Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer Committee on Women
Prisoners
The committee under the chairmanship
of justice V. R. Krishna Iyer submitted its report on women prisoners in the
year 1987. The major recommendations of the report are as follows:
·
There should be necessary provisions to restore the dignity of
women even if convicted under criminal code. Government should make use of all
possible material, moral and spiritual resources for the purpose.
·
Since women are a marginalized group, they are vulnerable to
exploitation even inside the prison. So there should be separate institutions
for women offenders. And the staff for these institutions should comprise of
women employees only.
·
The committee emphasised on need for security, discipline,
holistic programmes, adequate standards of prisons, and human rights, etc.,
because all these play a significant role in preventing women offenders from
psychosis and neurotic disorders.
·
The trial and bail processes for unconvinced women should be
fast accompanied with facilities for women offenders to meet their loved ones
even during the trial.
·
Women prisoners experience helplessness in comparison to their
male counterparts in defending themselves in court. So, government should
provide free legal aid to all women offenders.
Committee under BPR&D
In 2005, the Government
of India constituted a high powered committee under the chairmanship of
Director General, Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D). This
committee used the reports of Justice Mulla Committee Report & Justice
Krishna Iyer Committee and made several additional and new recommendations. It
also drafted a National Policy on Prison
Reforms and Correctional Administration, 2007.
This committee came up
with some novel recommendations such as provision to provide for aftercare and
rehabilitation, appointing officers for legal aid to prisoners etc. At the same
time, some of the recommendations were absolutely impractical. For example:
·
It recommended making it compulsory for the prisoners sentenced
to simple imprisonment to participate in prison work programmes. This goes
against the principle of deterrence, one of the foundations of modern criminal
jurisprudence.
·
It suggested amending Section 305-B of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, making it mandatory for the trial judge to award the maximum
sentence in cases where the accused contests the charge levelled against him or
her. This is again an outrageous suggestion that goes against principles of
fair trial, as provided by Article 21 and Article 22 of the Constitution.
·
It suggested awarding compensation to victims of crimes from the
wages earned by prisoners serving rigorous imprisonment. This is against the
constitutional provision and moral standards as this will be the case of double jeopardy where a person is
punished twice for the same crime. One is with imprisonment and other with
deduction in wages.
·
It recommended the inclusion of senior police officers in prison
administration to induce the cooperation of the police in prison reforms. But
for ensuring such cooperation in prison administration, correctional services
would be much better option rather than inclusion of police officers in the
same.
Draft National Policy on Prison Reforms and Correctional
Administration
The draft National Policy
on Prison Reforms and Correctional Administration is still in draft stage
though it calls for placing prisons in concurrent list. This paper has taken
its inputs from the earlier reports and some key aspects / modalities of the
policy are as follows:
·
Amending the constitution to include principles of prison
management and treatment of undertrials under DPSP; and including prisons in
concurrent list.
·
Enactment of uniform and comprehensive law on matters related to
prisons.
·
A department of Prisons and Correctional Services to be opened
in each state and UT.
·
State will evolve proper mechanism to address issues of
undertrials.
·
State shall endeavour to provide alternatives to prisons such as
community service, forfeiture of property, payment of compensation to victims,
public censure, etc.
·
State shall improve the living conditions in every prison and
allied institution.
·
State shall endeavour to develop the field of criminology and
penology.
·
Under the National Prison Policy, the government plans to
include nearly 200 new prisons buildings in the country.
Current Government Policy
Central government
recently announced a package of Rs. 4000 for implementing prisons reforms in
the country. State governments are being encouraged to sell off prisons
situated in “prime areas” to generate funds to create modern buildings with
facilities such as cushioned beds, clean toilets, closed-circuit TV cameras,
video-conferencing facilities, and space for yoga, sports and extra-curricular
activities.
End Notes
ref: gk today
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