Article, Paragraph, Essay on “India Needs Prison Reforms to Decongest its Jail” article for Class 10, Class 12, Graduation Classes and descriptive examination

India Needs Prison Reforms to Decongest its Jail

The excess numbers of prisons in the country is a problem of seldom addressed well. Even though the Supreme Court has raised the matter of prison reforms in broad and take actions to decongest jails have been patchy and half hearted. The government recently announced a package for prison reforms as part of the National Prison Policy being implemented by the Centre. This policy will redefine prisons as correctional homes. The news reports have mentioned that State governments will be optimistic to sell off prisons situated in prime areas to make funds to produce modern buildings. The buildings will have cells with cushion beds and clean toilets, closed-circuit TV cameras, video-conferencing facilities, and space for yoga, sports and extra-curricular activities. The arrangement includes building 200 prisons to append to the 1,300 that exist in the country. The condition of the prisons in our country came into focal point in the early 1980s when as part of the National Police Commission K.F. Rustomji tinted prison conditions and the troubles of under trial prisoners. Activists such as Sheela Barse filed public interest court case petitions on custodial circumstances and judges like Justice P.N. Bhagwati and Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer approved landmark judgments. These steps brought much needed relief to thousands of undertrials, who were released on personal bond or simply discharged. The situation on the ground seems to get poorer by the day. Indian prisons are a perfect picture of corroded, obsolete and abandoned place for housing human beings and such conditions have a direct contact on the mental and physical health of its occupants. The main offender is Indian prisons are still governed by a 123 year old law.

Prison improvement-

• The Locking up affect the criminal and also his family living in poverty. When an income generate member of the family is jailed the whole family has to bear and alter to the loss of income. The family has to suffer monetary loss because they have to employ a lawyer, arrange food for the prisoner, transport to prison to visit the prison .The Prisons have very grave health implication. There are some prisoners who are distress from a range of diseases before entering to the prison or they get exaggerated after coming in the prison.
• Imprisonment disrupts relations and weakens social consistency. To preservation of such consistency is based on long term relationships.
• The size of the pre-trial prisoners is higher than that of the convicted prisoner. Pre trial custody period is the most open period for the violence of criminal justice process.
• Prisons in India are overloaded. So that there is no division of offender to take serious step. The criminals may expand their ability over slight criminals.
• In India the most of the prison people is uneducated or educated below high school. There is a lot of people remain in prison pending trial or conviction. Most recent information discloses that over 67 percent of the prisoner are undertrials and may carry on in overcrowded prisons for years. This makes them one of the weakest sections of society.
• Poor public defense and under-utilization of non-custodial measures add to the growing malaise of unnecessary or prolonged detention.
• They require of inspections and imprecise completion of mistake mechanism turn prisons into terrifying wrecks with careless living conditions. This decomposes in the criminal justice system impact the psychological situation of a prisoner making the person more susceptible than before to criminal propensities.

Steps taken to Reform Prison

• The prison system in India was originated by TB Macaulay in 1835. A committee explicitly by the Prison Discipline Committee in 1836. The modern Prison administration in India is on legacy of British rule. It is based on the idea that the best criminal code can be of little use to a community unless there is good machinery for the infliction of punishments.
• The objective of the Committee was to evaluation the laws, rules and regulations keeping in view the overall objective of protecting society and rehabilitating offenders. It recommended a total ban on the terrible practice of clubbing together young offenders with tough criminals in prisons.
• The situation of jail should be enhanced by making sufficient planning for food, clothing, sanitation and ventilation etc.
• Lodging of under trial in jails should be reduced to bare minimum and they should be kept separate from the convicted prisoners. Government should formulate an Endeavour to provide adequate resources and funds for prison reforms.

Krishna Iyer Committee: It was constituted in 1987 for women prisoners. It has recommended induction of more women in the police force in view of their special role in tackling women and child offenders

• The women prisoner should be treating more kindly and permissible to meet up their kids normally. The prisoners belong to peasant group should be afford a chance to go to their field during harvest season on provisional leave so that they can look after their agriculture.
• The prison legislation should make provision for remedy of compensation to prisoner who are wrongfully detained or suffer injuries to callous or negligent acts of the prison personnel. It is gratifying to note that in recent decades the Supreme Court has shown deep concern for prisoners right to justice and fair treatment and requires prison officials to initiate measures so that prisoners basic right are not violated and they are not subjected to harassment and inhuman conditions of living.
• There is terrible require to get a change in the public outlook towards the prison institution and their administration. This is possible through concentrated advertising programmers using the media of press, platform and propaganda will.