Rights of the prison inmates has been an issue of national debate keeping in view its sensitivity and urgency. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has indeed addressed the core issues related to the rights of the prison inmates during the National Conference organized by it on the theme “Human Rights for Prison Inmates” in New Delhi. Many suggestions addressing the issues of the inmates came up during the deliberations. These are pertaining to rehabilitation of prisoners, decongestion of jails, encouraging correctional services, improving the mental health of prisoners, addressing the issues related to women prisoners and their children and de-addiction. Justice V. Ramasubramanian, NHRC Chairperson underlined that the purpose of the Conference was to learn from all the stakeholders about the problems being faced by the prison inmates and how and what appropriate recommendations can be sent to the Centre and State Governments. He said that the Commission will now work on an advisory to central and state governments for prison reforms and also evolve a mechanism for monitoring the progress. While initiating the discussions he said that as per the UN office on Drugs and Crime report, the global prison population will reach 11.5 million in 2022. Nearly a third of the global prison population is of pre-trial detainees with extensive costs to the state, communities, families and individuals. Prisons are overcrowded in the majority of countries worldwide. The budget, resource and capacity constraints lead to unlivable conditions and poor prison health. Prisons reinforce existing inequalities with an over representation of marginalised communities and insufficient attention to women, youth, persons with disabilities and other prisoners with special needs. He quoted the Prison Statistics India 2022 report released by the National Crime Records Bureau in December 2023.In 2020 the occupancy rate of prisons in the country was higher by 118% than the actual capacity of 1306 prisons. It further rose to 131.4% of the actual capacity of 1330 prisons in 2022. The increase in the number of prisons did not help the situation.He further said that various laws in the colonial era and after independence with regards to prisons. He said that a recent initiative included the ‘Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act,’ prepared by the Union Government in the year 2023 with the objective of holistically addressing all relevant issues relating to prison administration. It has been shared with all States and Union Territories to modify their respective Prison Acts. The conference was divided into three technical sessions. Justice Shri V. Ramasubramanian chaired the first session on ‘Enhancing quality of life of Inmates: Ensuring Dignity, well-being and human rights behind bars.’ The panelists included Shri Rakesh Kumar Pandey, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Shri Valay Singh, Co-founder and Lead, India Justice Report, Prof (Dr.) Vartika Nanda, Indian Prison Reformer, Media Educator and Commentator and Ms. Maitreyi Misra, Director of Mitigation and Mental Health and Criminal Justice, Square Circle Clinic. It was emphasised during the discussions that the solution has to be found with the right combination of creative and practical approaches besides the implementation ofModel Prisons and Correctional Services Act. The need for collaborative attention from all stakeholders towards prisoners’ mental health was also stressed.Second session was dedicated to ‘Female inmates and their children: Strengthening institutional framework for gender-sensitive prison reforms’ was chaired by Smt Meeran Chadha Borwankar, Former DG, BPRD and Core Group Member, NHRC. She highlighted issues of hygiene, mental health and access to skill development. She questioned the trend of relocating prisons away from cities, which further isolates inmates from their families. This session showed concern over the lack of reliable data on children 6-years age living with their mothers in prisons, need for National Policy on Custodial Women, improved medical and mental health care, menstrual hygiene and need-based arrests besides giving interim bail for pregnant or lactating women and greater dignity in post-release rehabilitation. The third session was chaired by Justice Rajeev Shakdher, Former Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court on ‘Undertrials inmate: Tackling judicial delays, strengthening legal aid and promoting alternatives to incarceration.’
