Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday favoured exploring alternative modes of punishment for convicts, saying the trauma of the imprisonment of a member of the family together with economic factors, causes tremendous pressure on families.
Addressing the Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators here, he said the society's expectations from the criminal justice system, particularly from the prison and correctional administration, are wide, varied and sometimes even being in conflict with each other.
He said in most countries of the world, imprisonment is the main punitive measure imposed on individuals who have been convicted of a criminal offence. However, over emphasis on imprisonment has many adverse effects. It not only adversely affects the individuals, but also the families. The trauma of the imprisonment of a member of the family together with economic factors causes tremendous pressure on the families.
"Therefore, alternative modes to imprisonment should also be considered and implemented. It is also important that activities focusing on vulnerable groups, including children, women, and prisoners with special needs, should also be included in prison reform programmes," he added.
Expressing his happiness over the fact that Indian prisons have implemented a large number of innovative initiatives aimed at reformation and rehabilitation of offenders, Shinde said: "Some of the steps could even be emulated."
He said there are jails in the country that provide semi-open facilities for promoting earning-and-learning to their inmates through petrol pumps, shops, agricultural products and exhibition of jail-made goods in public places.
"Regular academic education, distance education; industrial training institutes and other vocational facilities such as computer literacy have been provided to the prisoners of several States in order to equip them with skills to earn their living after release. Innovative Banking Schemes are being harnessed to provide funds for released prisoners to establish their own wage earning units," he said.
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"Use of individual talents is encouraged in order to sustain special skills of offenders in the field of painting, drawing, sculpturing, singing, dance and dramatics. Some states have made changes in the rules of employment in government jobs for accommodating released prisoner if they acquire sufficient academic or vocational skills during their incarceration unless they have been convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude," he added.
He further informed that Government of India has provided funds under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes for creating better facilities and more humane living conditions in prisons throughout the country.
He said, "I am aware of the problems and challenges that confront the correctional service system of our country. A majority of the persons lodged in prisons belong to the under-privileged sections of society and most of them consist of first time offenders involved in technical or minor violations of law and constitute 90 percent of the prison population."
"Roughly two-thirds are under-trials and this ratio has remained constant. The occupancy rate is 112.2 percent in 2012 which has come down gradually from a high of 145.4 percent in 2005. The incarceration rate in India per lakh of population is 32 prisoners in comparison with 130 in Australia, 149 in UK and 716 in USA," he added.
The Home Minister further quoted Mahatma Gandhi, 'the Father of the Nation' who said, "Crime is the outcome of a diseased mind and jail must have an environment of hospital for treatment and care" and said that is also reflected in the theme of this conference.
Minister of State for Home Affairs, R P N Singh, who also addressed the conference, said all possible efforts have to be made to ensure that jail inmates come out of prison as better citizens
The APCCA is a prestigious event for the correctional officers to share ideas and learn from others' experiences and give direction to innovative ideas in correctional administration and welfare. Apart from delegates from 23 member countries, the delegates from States/UTs dealing with correctional administrations are also attending the conference.
Every year an annual conference is organised by the member countries on rotational basis where Correctional Administrators of member countries exchange ideas in relation to the prison reforms in the Asia Pacific region. The conference gives correctional officers a chance to express their knowledge and exchange best practices being adopted in various countries.