Prison overcrowding a serious matter, says U.P. Jail Minister

The Hindu‎‎‎‎‎: Lucknow: Saturday, April 09, 2016.

Following the violence in a Varanasi district jail on April 2nd, the Samajwadi Party led State government in Uttar Pradesh has initiated a high-level probe into the incidents. It has also sought to bring reforms to make prisons, “prisoner-friendly”.

A core problem in prisons today in Uttar Pradesh is that of overcrowding. Figures sourced through an RTI query and analysed by The Hindu reveal that an overwhelming 90 per cent of jails (60 of a total of 67 jails) in U.P. are officially “overcrowded”.

The total capacity of these jails: district, central and special combined, was 52,572 as per data dated 31st December 2015. However, the actual number of prisoners lodged in the jails was 88,747 (including 62,827 undertrials), which was 1.69 times the capacity.

Admitting that overcrowding was a “serious matter,” Uttar Pradesh Jail Minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia told The Hindu that the State would get four new jails in a month’s time. The State would ensure that over 3,500 prisoners above the age of 60 and who have completed 14 years behind bars will be freed, he said. He also said that a team of eight lawyers could provide free legal aid to prisoners for speedy execution of cases.

Mr. Ramoowalia has promised a “multi-pronged solution” to the regular incidents of disturbances in U.P. jails that focuses on improving quality of food, regular ‘mulakats’ (prisoners’ meeting with relatives) to be held without extortion by officials, and freer parole norms.

The government plans to bring amendments to the 1895 Prison Act while doing away with the existing prison manual.

The Minister, who visited the Varanasi jail after the incident earlier this week, said, “How can there be peace in prisons when there is an atmosphere of anguish and depression? We have decided that not one but multiple agencies, four, will be catering food to jails to avoid any lapse in quality”.

To address criminal activities in prison, Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan recently ordered that jammers should be installed in 10 of U.P.’s most sensitive jails, apart from CCTV surveillance units in 23 jails.