Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Prisoners, Their Rights and Reformation
Prisoners, Their Rights and Reformation
"Instead of making prisoners out of our students, we ought to make students out of our prisoners."
1. Reading and Writing Books in Jail: in 2015, adopted the Revised rules called as “United
In State Of Maharashtra vs Prabhakar Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
Pandurang Sangzgirir[4] Art. 21 of the constitution was Prisoners” to honour the late President of South Africa,
made available perhaps for the first time to a prisoner Nelson Mandela, who had spend 27 years in prison in the
while dealing with the question of his right of reading and course of his struggle for global human rights.
writing books while in Jail. Some of the rules mentioned under "The Nelson
2. Liberal use of Parole: Mandela Rules 2015" are as follows:-
The Government or any authority which the a. All prisoners shall be treated with the respect due to
State Government may declare its powers on this their inherent dignity and value as human beings.
behalf, may on recommendation of the District Parole b. No prisoner shall be subjected to, and all prisoners
Board direct that a prisoner may be specified in the shall be protected from torture and other cruel, inhuman
direction, for any period not exceeding thirty days at a or degrading treatment or punishment, for which no
time excluding time required for journeys and the days of circumstances whatsoever may be invoked as a
departure from, and the arrival Suresh Chandra Vs. State justification.
of Gujarat 1976 SCC, The Hon'ble Supreme Court while c. There shall be no discrimination on the grounds of
stating about penalogical innovation in the Slope of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
Parole to check recidivism because of which liberal use opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or any
of the same was recommended. other status. The religious beliefs and moral precepts of
3. Segregation of Prisoners: prisoners shall be respected
A challenge was made to segregation of d. Prison administrations and other competent authorities
prisoners a three Judge bench of the Hon'ble should offer education, vocational training and work, as
Supreme court stated that resort to oppressive measures well as other forms of assistance that are appropriate and
to curb political beliefs (the prisoner was naxalite because available, including those of a remedial, moral, spiritual,
of which he was put in a "quarantine" and subjected to social and health- and sports-based nature.
inhuman treatment) could not be permitted. In B.M It highlights some of the important aspects of
Pattnaik v. State of A.P.[5] The court however, opined inmates and provides direction for their welfare:
that a prisoner could not complain of installation of high- Covering various modalities in the prison administration,
violative wire mechanism on the jail walls to prevent these rules have been carved out to ensure that the
escape from prisons, as no prisoner had fundamental right inmates are safe, secure and not subjected to any kind of
to escape from lawful custody. decimation, while development of education and
imparting skills is other part of this declaration.
V. INTERNATIONAL RULES OF
PRISONERS WELFARE VI. POSITION IN INDIA
The Bangkok Rules[6] The situation in the prisons is quite varied and
It is known that the Standard Minimum Rules, complex. The most important issues and challenges faced
which has been framed for the Treatment of Prisoners in prisons are:
applies to all prisoners without discrimination however, a) Over crowding
the attention towards the women prisoners has been b) Classification & Segregation
pending since a long time. With the increase in the c) Inadequate facilities for prisoners
number of women prisoners all over the world, it was the d) Scarcity of places for drying clothes and keeping
need to bring this issue and provide more comprehensive personal belongings
document so as to provide standardised rules for women e) Threat to medical facility and preventive health
prisoners in the jails. The General Assembly of the care service
United Nation, in December, 2010, framed the rules f) Problem related to Food, laundry services etc
called as "The United Nations Rules for the Treatment If we see the data as on 31.12.2016, of NCRB[8] in
of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for respect of inmates all over the country, the following
Women Offenders" popularly called as Bangkok Rules. needs to be observed:
These rules incorporate a variety of measures for
treatment of women prisoners related to admission,
personal hygiene, medical services, preventive health care
services, safety and security etc.
The Nelson Mandela Rules[7]
Although, there existed rules for the
maintenance of standards in respect of treatment of
prisoners all over the world, the UN General Assembly,
2 This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
International Journal of Engineering and Management Research e-ISSN: 2250-0758 | p-ISSN: 2394-6962
Volume- 9, Issue- 4 (August 2019)
www.ijemr.net https://doi.org/10.31033/ijemr.9.4.1
Sr. no No. of Prisons Available Capacity (Both Inmate Population Occupancy Rate
(States and UTs) Male and Female inmates) in (Both Male and
States & UTs Female)
in States & UTs
1 1412 380876 433003 113.7%
(Over crowded)
VII. PRISON ADMINISTRATION vis- a - other fundamental rights tailored to the limitations of
vis JUDICIAL INTERVENTION imprisonment”.
The Supreme Court of India strongly felt that
The Supreme Court of India had to come there is the need for bringing in a basic uniformity in laws
strongly in favour of judicial scrutiny and intervention and regulations governing different prisons in the
whenever the rights of prisoners in detention or custody country. The apex Court has specifically issued
were found to have been infringed upon. In Sunil Batra directions to various authorities to deliberate about
v. Delhi Administration and Others[9], Mr. Justice V. enacting of new Prison Act to replace the century old
R. Krishna Iyer[10] pronounced: “prisoners have Prisons Act, 1894 and to examine the question of framing
enforceable liberties, devalued may be but not of a new model All India Jail Manual.
demonetised; and under our basic scheme, Prison Power In Shri Rama Murthy vs State Of
must bow before Judge Power, if fundamental freedoms Karnataka[12] the apex court dealt with the problems
are in jeopardy”. of overcrowding, torture and ill-treatment, neglect of
In Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration[11], health and hygiene, insubstantial food and inadequate
again, the Court asked and affirmed: “Are prisoners’ clothing, deficiency in communication streamlining of
persons? Yes, of course. To answer in the negative is to jails visits, management of open air prisons and delay in
convict the nation and the Constitution of dehumanisation trials of inmates in the prisons. The Hon'ble Supreme
and to repudiate the world legal order, which now Court issued directions to the States, the Union
recognises rights of prisoners in the International Territories and to the Central Government as to why they
Covenant on Prisoners’ Rights to which our country has should not act on the causes detailed in the judgment.
signed assent”. Reformative and Rehabilitation Activities:
In a number of judgements on various issues Now a day’s imprisonment does not mean to
related to prison administration, the Apex Court of India break the stones or grind the Chakkies but the sense has
has laid down three broad principles changed. Prisoners are given full chance to reform and
(i) A person in prison does not become a non- rehabilitate themselves during the period of
person imprisonment. Tihar Jail which is the largest complex of
(ii) A person in prison is entitled to all human the Asian Jails, adopted the many reformative and
rights within the limitations of rehabilitative steps.
imprisonment (a) Facilities Provided under the Jail: Now the days
(iii) There is no justification in aggravating the have gone when the prisoners were given hard
suffering already inherent in the process of punishment in the jail. Now, they are treated as
incarceration. human beings and being provided many facilities. Some
The Following were Highlighted in the Said Case: activities for prisoners are re-creations, sports, Yoga,
“It is imperative, as implicit in article 21, that Meditation, adult education, library, computers
life or liberty shall not be kept in suspended animation or learning facility, vocational training, embroidery and
congealed into animal existence without the freshening sewing etc. In female ward, educational classes are held
flow of fair procedure. Fair procedure in dealing with the for various courses of Indira Gnadhi National Open
prisoners calls for another dimension of access of law- University and National Open School facilitating
provision, within the easy reach of the law which limits various courses like M.B.A., M.A., B.A. Courses and
liberty to persons who are prevented from moving out of their school Courses. Teaching classes are taken by
prison gates”. professional teachers as well as qualified and educated
“No prisoner can be personally subjected to prisoners. Other facilities in the jail are necessary
deprivation not necessitated by the fact of incarceration bedding, bed- sheet, durries, blankets & equipments
and the sentence of court. All other freedoms belong to like plate, glass etc. are provided to all prisoners from jail
him – to read and write, exercise and recreation, concerned. Break-fast, food(twice), tea (twice) and safe
meditation and chant, creative comforts like protection drinking water are provided.
from extreme cold and heat, freedom from indignities like (b) Treatment of the Offenders: In jail premises for the
compulsory nudity, forced sodomy and other unbearable treatment of prisoners various techniques are used
vulgarity, movement within the prison campus subject to which helps prisoners to rehabilitate.
requirements of discipline and security, the minimum joys
of self-expression, to acquire skills and techniques and all
3 This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
International Journal of Engineering and Management Research e-ISSN: 2250-0758 | p-ISSN: 2394-6962
Volume- 9, Issue- 4 (August 2019)
www.ijemr.net https://doi.org/10.31033/ijemr.9.4.1
(i) Yoga and Meditation: getting the rehabilitation after release from the jail after
For cleansing and disciplining mind. Yoga and the completion of sentence. There has been 1000% grown
meditation classes were started in a big way with the help in the turnover of the Tihar jail factory within last two
of various Voluntary organization. In the year 1999 Tihar years. With the close participation of convicts and the jail
jail created a history by organizing a Vipasana staff and the NGOs they are producing articles under the
meditation camp for more than one thousand prisoners. brand name of “TJ” with products ranging from branded
Since then a permanent Vipasana Centre has been opened confectionary items to furniture, caprets oil & soaps etc.
in Tihar Jail No 4. where two courses of 10 days duration
are organized regularly. In the year 1998 Shri Satya VIII. CONCLUSION
Narain Goenka Teacher of Vipasana inaugurated
"pagodas" Meditation cells in the Centre. Staff members No doubt, the applicability of international rules
are also encouraged to attend meditation courses. and regulation and model manual of prison administration
Meditation group like Brahma Kumari, Ishwariya, is a cumbersome task, but in order to standardize the
Vishva-vidhalya, Divya Jyoti, Jagriti Sansthan, procedure and to provide the rights of the inmates lawful
Sahaj Yoga kendra have also opened their branches in and purpose fully, we may take the following measures:
jails for imparting moral education, counseling and 1. Health Care Services: It would be essential for
techniques of meditation to the prisoners. This has helped the prison administration to employ or associate
many prisoners in changing the whole approach to life. better health care services for the prisoners, so as
(ii) Creative Art Therapy: to provide prompt and preventive action for better
Creative Art Therapy, which is care.
physiotherapeutic in nature, is used in severe 2. Vocational and Skill Development : Tihar jail
setting. In respect to prison setting, the therapy had been in news to start the VTI (Vocational
serves as reformatory process in several ways. First and Training Institute) concept in the year 2012-13,
most important, it helps to express, channelize and wherein, certain sill based courses such as
ventilate himself. One has to keep in mind that, anyone Automobile Operations & Repairing, Air
convicted or otherwise exiled from the rest of the world is Conditioners repair and Maintenance, Welding,
initially bound to have tremendous anger, aggression, Stitching, Carpentry etc were provided to the
sense of helplessness, hopelessness and emotional inmates to focus on their employability after the
problems. Therefore, by encouraging and promoting sentence. The course was in co-ordination with the
creative Art, the individual is able to pent up emotions Ministry and on successful completion of course ,
and realize his worth as "self" having a positive desire of the certificate is issued which is at par with the ITI
improving himself both consciously and unconsciously. certificates of short duration courses. These types
(iii) Social Participation in Reformation: of initiates may be taken up at a larger scale, and
As a part of community participation in possibly, more industries should be associated with
the reformation and social integration of prisoners after these tasks to make it more meaningful.
release, a large number of respectable members of non- 3. There is also a need to synchronise and facilitate
governmental organizations, Retired Major General, the staff of the prison. It is therefore essential to
Professors I.I.T., Delhi Eminent Psychiatrist, have Establishment of Central Academy for
Psychologists, Principle and teachers of various Correctional Administration, to eable the
educational institutions have been conducting various proliferation of corrective and sustainable activities
activities in the prisons. These NGOs have had very across the prisons all over India.
sobering and positive impact on the psyche of the 4. MoUs with the industries and NGO for
prisoners, who have been shown the positive and rehabilitation of the prisoners and counselling for
constructive approach to life after interaction with them. betterment is also needed. Active participation of
(iv) Rehabilitation: Social Welfare department is needed.
In addition a programme for teaching various 5. Model Manual of Prison, as per BPR& D
trades was started in other Jails also both for guidelines, may be prepared and acted upon to
convicts as well as under trails. This programme includes bring betterment in the administration as well the
pen manufacturing, book binding, manure making, screen inmates.
printing, envelop making, tailoring and cutting, shoe 6. Special rehabilitation programmes may be
making etc. Which has not only resulted in learning a conducted with close co-ordination of Police,
trade, but also provided monetary gains to the prisoners. Prison and the Court.
For the post-release rehabilitation of the Prisoners, the 7. Life Cover to the Prisoners under Pradhan Mantri
social welfare Department of Delhi Government provides Suraksha Bima Yojana Insurance Scheme may be
loans for setting up self-employed units. provided for further security of the family.
(v) Factories in Jails: The rights of the inmates can only be addressed if we
Generally now a days there are many factories in are eager to provide the legal rights own by them with
the Jails i.e. weaving, carpentry, chemical (shop, oil, etc.) prompt and fair display of our duties.
paper, tailoring, bakery etc which helps the person in
4 This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
International Journal of Engineering and Management Research e-ISSN: 2250-0758 | p-ISSN: 2394-6962
Volume- 9, Issue- 4 (August 2019)
www.ijemr.net https://doi.org/10.31033/ijemr.9.4.1
"Crime is the outcome of a diseased mind and jail must have an environment of hospital for treatment and care" - -
Mahatma Gandhi
5 This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.