Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Do justice to prisoners' that was published in Newsband

Do justice to prisoners

There is need to address the problem related to overcrowding of prisons in the country. Prison reforms are absolutely necessary. Prisons in Delhi and nine States have an occupancy rate of 150 per cent of their capacity. There is little change even though the court has passed a series of interim orders to the States on measures to decongest prisons. Some people are of the opinion that jail is punishment not a holiday and so why should they throw taxpayer money at rapists and murderers. But the prisoners too have the right to good health and dignity as per the Book on Indian Constitution.

An excessive prison population creates problems of hygiene, sanitation, management and discipline. Every year budget of states is alloted for various purposes. We already have issues like unemployment, housing, sanitation, electrification, water crisis, climate change etc. When these issues are not addressed, it is no wonder that jails are given last priority at least in terms of finances.

However, reforms in jails can be done by better management itself. Hygiene and sanitation can be ensured with participatory approach under supervision of jail wardens. Income generated by prisoners be pooled to take up projects. The crowded jails are result of inefficiency in our governance architecture which is not limited to jails only. Rent seeking, extortion etc. are common practices in jails.

The current system that persisted in the jails of our country truly resonate the need of reforms in the country. The political leaders speak about economic reforms every time but they will rarely speak about judicial reform. Our country cannot become super power with only economic reforms but reform process should be spearheaded to other sectors too.

Another thing is why the court thinks that only by delaying the judgment justice can be done. If they process it fast and give a judgement fast, is there anything wrong? So long as this mentality is not changed in the courts, our jails will be crowded.

If current situation persists for a long time with nothing done to ameliorate the living standard in these jails, prisoners will get irascible and start defying authorities in the jail. Every prison has some convicts who introspect and are guilty of their crimes, they take their conviction as a lesson and comply to rules and regulations of the prison. Some prisoners because of their good demeanor to authorities and their comrades have come out before time. This manifests that they reformed because they got to exercise their fundamental rights in the jail, with proper sanitation, food and good health. Authorities should take this matter seriously and decongest jails to let our prisoners lead a balanced jail life. States should build additional jails and transfer the convicts from the over-crowded jails to the new jails, but this should be done within a stipulated time. Prisoner in-sighting should be done to know their pain and basic requirements to avoid any mismanagement in the upcoming jails.

The criminal justice system should be improved and fast track courts must be set up for trial of petty offences. The biggest reason that so many people are trapped in jails is due to the adjournments over adjournments given by the courts and unwillingness to swiftly depose of the cases. Let our Courts take timely action to dispose of all cases so that poor suspected litigants would get relieved without staying inside Jail for decades together. Speedy dispensation of justice is the key to the problem.