Prison Reforms

Prison Reforms

News: A Supreme Court-appointed committee (Justice Amitava Roy Committee ) report on prison reforms has highlighted the dire conditions faced by women prisoners in India.

What are the Key Findings?

Access to Basic Facilities
• Women prisoners face more significant challenges than men in accessing basic facilities such as medical care, legal aid, paid labor, and recreational activities.
• Only 18% of women prisoners in India are allocated exclusive women’s prison facilities, as only 15 states and UTs have functional women’s prisons.
• Less than 40% of prisons in the country provide sanitary napkins for female inmates.

Meeting Children
• Only jails in Goa, Delhi, and Puducherry allow female prisoners to meet their children without any bars or glass separation.

Sharing facilities
• Approximately 75% of female wards in prisons have to share kitchens and common facilities with male wards.

Limited Complaint Mechanisms
• In only 10 states and 1 union territory, women inmates are allowed to file complaints against jail staff for any form of abuse or harassment.

Medical Challenges
• There is a lack of separate medical and psychiatric wards, basic facilities for child delivery, and healthcare professionals who can address gender-specific health needs. Additionally, prisons in 19 states and 6 UTs lack psychiatric wards for women inmates.

Other Recommendations:
• Establishment of special fast-track courts to deal with petty offenses and long-pending cases.
• Need to address staff shortages in the prison department across the country by filling existing vacancies. The Prison Department has a perennial average of 30%-40% vacancies.
• Use of legal provisions for alternative sentences, such as fines, probation, and admonition, which are underutilized by the courts.
• Suicide-Proof Barracks with collapsible materials to prevent suicide in Prison.