LIFE INSIDE: UNDERSTANDING THE REALITIES OF PRISON LIFE AND REFORMS NEEDED

By Navneet Kaur
Assistant Professor, Political Science, Department of Humanities and Physical Education, CT University, Ludhiana, Punjab.

“No one truly knows a nation until one has visited the jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”

-Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

Prison administration is an important component of the criminal justice system. Prison administration and management are the responsibility of the respective state governments. The need to regulate human actions led to the evolution of a system of controlling the behaviour of an individual in order to protect the interests of society as a whole and humans were made answerable for their actions. It also evolved a system of detaching the individuals from society and keeping them in places now known as prisons as forms of punishment. Recently the idea of “prisonization” has acquired a very wide ambit and ranges from deterrence when ultimately necessary to providing certain reformatory measures with the goal of bringing the prisoners back into society and allowing them to lead a normal life. There is a paradigm shift in social viewpoint towards prisoners in the last century. Earlier system of prison with a punitive attitude where inmates were forcibly confined and deprived a variety of freedom as a form of punishment has changed with a change in social perception towards prison and prisoners. It is now treated as a correction or improvement facility which itself indicates that there is more emphasis on reformation of prisoners than to punish them. The recent developments in Human Rights philosophy have shifted the focus from deterrence to reformative measures for dealing with offenders. However, prisons still remain a vital part of the criminal justice system because they can be used both as places of deterrence and reformative experiments.

India's prison system stands as a stark testament to systemic failures, characterized by chronic overcrowding, human rights violations, and persistent neglect of fundamental prisoner welfare. It also has certain peculiar issues due to its demography and laws which are not allowing the prisons to be reformative in a pragmatic way.

Overcrowding- One of the main reasons for overcrowding in Indian prisons is the ratio of under-trials as compared to those who are actually convicted. The primary reason for this is because of the inefficient criminal justice system and the workload on the courts. The huge pendency of the cases and the deficient laws on bail and probation adds to it. The Indian prison system is drowning under an unprecedented population surge, with official data revealing a 131% occupancy rate in many facilities nationwide (December 2022). In 2021, the crisis was most acute in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi where the occupancy rate crossed 180% leading to increased health risks, limited access to basic amenities, and heightened potential for inter-prisoner conflicts.

Corruption and Extortion - Corruption permeates multiple levels of the prison administration system. It includes guards on duty and other local contractual staff of the prison. It also eventually leads to the practice of extortion. The major reason of this is the absence of any stringent laws to check the behaviour of guards and the data through CCTVs etc. which is also manipulated. One of the major reasons for this practice is the low salary levels that the local staff of the prison gets. It entices them to extort money received as wages by the prisoners. The government should evaluate and fix a basic liveable minimum wage for such local staff considering the vital positions they hold in the prison administration system and should also devise laws to keep a regular check on their behaviour.

Unsatisfactory Living Conditions- The economic conditions of different prisons are different as per the economic well-being of that state. Though there are certain prisons in India which have improved the living conditions of prisoners but the issue of over-crowding has not allowed that change to be appropriately reflected. There are certain basic issues like hygiene, diet, clothing, mental well-being etc. which still need to be focused upon. India's prison system remains fundamentally punitive rather than rehabilitative, with minimal infrastructure for psychological support, skill development, or social reintegration. The absence of comprehensive mental health services creates a cycle of institutional trauma, with prisoners experiencing increased rates of depression, anxiety, and potential recidivism. Various Indian studies have reported the current prevalence of mental illnesses ranging from 21% to 33% among the prisoners.

Gender-Specific Issues- Women prisoners face unique challenges that are often overlooked in discussions about prison reform. Of the 23,772 women in prisons, 18,146 (76.33%) are undertrials. Reports indicate that female inmates are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse and harassment from both staff and male inmates. The absence of female guards in many facilities exacerbates this issue, leaving women without adequate protection or recourse against abuse. Additionally, pregnant women in prisons often lack proper prenatal care and support services, highlighting systemic failures in addressing the needs of female inmates.

Custodial Violence and Human Rights Violations - Custodial violence remains a persistent and systemic issue in Indian prisons, with institutional mechanisms for accountability remaining critically weak. The National Human Rights Commission reported over 1,850 custodial deaths in 2020-21, highlighting a culture of institutional impunity. Recent high-profile cases like the Sathankulam custodial deaths in Tamil Nadu and numerous encounter killings have exposed the deep-rooted culture of institutional violence.

Lack of Legal Aid- In India, legal aid to those who cannot afford to retain counsel is only available at the time of trial and not when the detainee is brought to the remand court. Since the majority of prisoners, including those who are in lock up, as well as those in prisons have not been tried, the absence of legal aid until the point of trial reduces greatly the efficacy of the country’s system of legal representation to the poor. The lawyers are not available at the point when many of them need such assistance.

Caste-Based Discrimination- Caste-based discrimination within prisons continues to be a significant issue affecting the treatment and rehabilitation of inmates from marginalized communities. The Supreme Court recently ruled against caste-based segregation practices in Indian jails, declaring them unconstitutional.Despite this landmark decision, implementation remains a challenge that undermines the dignity and rights of these inmates.

Key Judicial Pronouncements Related to Prison Reforms

Hussainara Khatoon v. Home Secretary (Bihar): The Supreme Court ruled that free legal aid must be provided to indigent accused individuals to ensure their right to a fair trial.

Charles Sobhraj v. The Suptd., Central Jail: The Supreme Court acknowledged that fundamental rights cannot be stripped away simply because someone is incarcerated. Overcrowding in prisons was declared a violation of human rights.

Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration (1978): This case affirmed that prisoners retain their fundamental rights as long as they do not conflict with incarceration, including protection from cruel and inhuman treatment.

Rama Murthy v. State of Karnataka (1997): The Court noted critical issues within prisons such as overcrowding, delayed trials, neglect of health, and abuse, urging the government to implement reforms.

There are various measures which seem necessary to improve the conditions of prisons and its administration in India the committees set up by various governments at regular intervals have invested a considerable amount of time and research in formulating recommendations for reforming the prison administration in India. Unfortunately, most of their recommendation have not been tried on the ground. Hence, the government should immediately debate and implement the recommendations given by the various committee. The prisons in India should move more towards the reformative scheme than the retributive scheme. This will help the prisoner to be a better person and ultimately will help in the lowering of the crime rate. A major problem in Indian prisons is that almost all the prisons are overcrowded. This is because both convicts and the undertrials are imprisoned together. Therefore, trials need to be speedy.

Separate arrangements for the under-trials like keeping them under house arrest must be introduced into the criminal code. There is a need to make specific laws regarding violence in police custody. There is little accountability of police as of now in this regard and this leads to a severe human rights violation of many people, sometimes even to those who are not at all related to crime. Another considerable challenge arises when a prisoner is released from jail. In case a prisoner does not have strong familial or social support he/she finds it. very difficult to readjust to society. Most of the time, this scenario leads them back to the world of crime and contravenes the whole purpose of the whole criminal justice system. Some gruesome forms of punishment like solitary confinement should be completely abolished because it has no good use value.

The ultimate objective of imprisoning an accused or convict is to either reform him or in rare cases of the death penalty to deter potential offenders. Solitary confinement does not serve either of those purposes and is an unnecessary burden on the prison administration. There should be a monitoring body to control the administration of the prisons in India and there should be specific qualifications and training to be mandated for recruiting the officials in the prison administration. This monitoring body should consist of various departments like the legal aid department, the medical health department, the after-care unit and the skill development department to treat the prisoners accordingly. Special emphasis should also be made to take care about the mental health of the prisoners and the sexual orientation and gender identity of the prisoners should also be protected as this will help in the overall personality development of the prisoners.

What are the challenges to Prison Reforms?

First, Prisons are a state subject, this creates difficulty in having uniform prison management. The Union Government can only frame models for the States to incorporate and help in coordinating between States, encouraging them to adopt best practices. However, ultimately it is the obligation of State Governments to undertake the reforms. Second, Prisons in India are still governed by the Prisons Act, 1894. It is a colonial legislation which treats prisoners as sub-par citizens, and provides the legal basis for punishment to be retributive, rather than rehabilitative. Third, there is a lack of political will to undertake the reforms. Some experts argue that the provisions of the Representation of People’s Act exclude prisoners from the right to vote. This disincentivizes the political leadership from taking concrete action for prison reforms.

Conclusion

To ensure good discipline and administration, an initial classification must be made to separate male from females, the young from the adults, convicted from the unconvinced prisoners, civil from criminal prisoners and from casual from habitual prisoners. The main object of prison labour is prevention of crime and reformation of the offenders. And the other main object was to engage them so as to prevent mental damage and to enable them to contribute to the cost of their maintenance. The under trail prisoners constitute a majority of population in prison than convicted prisoners. The under trial prisoners are presumed to be innocent and most of them are discharged or acquitted after immeasurable physical and mental loss caused to them by detention due to delay in investigation and trial. The courts have in recent years been giving serious thought to the of human rights of prisoners and have, on that ground, interfered with the exercise of powers of superintendents of jails in respect of measures for safe custody, good order and discipline.