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Home Ministry to focus on prison reforms

Vinay Kumar

To tone up five-year-old scheme

NEW DELHI: Concerned over incidents of jailbreaks, overcrowding of jails and poor facilities for inmates, the Union Home Ministry is all set to tone up the five-year-old prison reforms scheme. It will strictly monitor the scheme’s implementation in the States, which are lagging behind either in utilising the Central funds or in putting jail reforms on fast track.

Putting “prison reforms and modernisation” on top of the Ministry’s agenda, Home Minister Shivraj Patil has convened a meeting here on April 25 of State Prison Ministers, Home Secretaries and Deputy Commissioners in charge of prisons.

The scheme was implemented in 2003 with a central funding of Rs. 1,800 crore. While the Centre offered 75 per cent funds, the States had to mobilise the rest. The scheme will run till next March 31 next year.

Review meeting

At a review meeting presided over by Mr. Patil last week, it was pointed out that 56 new jails came up till March 31 last year. Another 112 would be added over the next year and repair and renovation works would be carried out in a number of prisons.

The meeting was attended by the chiefs of the Bureau of Police Research and Development and the National Crime Records Bureau.

As many as 1,092 barracks had come up in the existing prisons till March last and another 538 would be added over the next year, sources in the Home Ministry said.

It is learnt that Mr. Patil was “peeved” at the laxity shown by Assam, Bihar, Goa, Kerala, Nagaland and Jharkhand in providing utilisation certificates to the Ministry and their lagging behind in spending the central funds.

If official figures are any indication of overcrowding in prisons, the capacity in jails is being increased by 1.15 per cent annually whereas the “prison population” goes up by 2.97 per cent every year.

Situation in Tihar

For example, the high-security Tihar Central Jail in Delhi has nearly 13,000 prisoners, against the sanctioned capacity of about 6,000 inmates. It has 10 jails and nearly 500 cells, where many high-security prisoners are lodged. There is a constraint of space and facilities.

Clearly, provisions of the jail manual have been thrown to the winds. The manual stipulates facilities such as bathrooms, toilets, ventilated cells, good climatic conditions and sleeping berths for the inmates.

Reducing congestion

Mr. Patil has asked the States and his Ministry to contemplate measures to reduce congestion in jails, where 66 per cent of the prisoners are undertrials.

The Ministry is leaning heavily on several observations made by the Supreme Court for granting bail to prisoners, who had undergone a major part of their jail term.

Patil for SPV

Favouring speedy disbursal of funds by the States to the agencies such as the Public Works Department, which carry out construction and repairs in jails, Mr. Patil is said to be keen on putting in place a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for construction, renovation and repair in jails.

The sources said the suggestion would come up at the April 25 meeting.

Petty offenders

The sources said the Ministry would impress upon the States to sensitise their police forces on tackling petty offenders.

“The stress should not be on arresting a person reportedly involved in a petty crime but to take recourse to alternative methods like counselling, reform and good behaviour,” a senior Ministry official said.

Multi-tiered tight security, better trained and equipped prison guards and better facilities for jail supervisors and officials will form the part of the meeting agenda.

Daring jailbreaks and violent incidents in the recent past in Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Bihar would also be analysed for enhanced security in jails.

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