Jail Reforms

President Murmu's speech on plight of prisoners prompted SC report: CJI

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Tuesday revealed it was President Droupadi Murmu's speech on the plight of inmates that "kindled" a conversation, prompting the publication of a report by the Supreme Court. CJI Chandrachud, speaking at the release of "Prisons in India: Mapping Prison Manuals and Measures for Reformation and Decongestion" at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, thanked the President for her "stirring speech" highlighting the plight of prisoners, especially undertrials, at the 2022 Constitution Day celebrations. "The speech of the President kindled a conversation at the Supreme court and culminated in one of the reports being released today. This report is a result of the President's vision and it is but appropriate that it is being released by her," he said. The CJI added, "I daresay that this is an example of what can be achieved when the different branches of the state share a constitutional goal." Apart from the report on the prisons, the President released "Justice

SC issues directions to improve policy governing remission of convicts

The Supreme Court has issued a slew of directions aimed at standardising and improving the transparency of policies governing permanent remission to convicts in the country. The directions of the bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih mandate greater accessibility to policy information, timely communication of decisions, and individualised consideration of cases to prevent arbitrary conditions. The bench was hearing a suo motu case of 2021 titled as "Policy Strategy for Grant of Bail" and directed all states and union territories to inform convicts of any rejection of applications for permanent remission within one week. They will also have to forward copies of these rejections to the district legal services authorities concerned to ensure appropriate steps were taken to provide legal aid to the convicts. At this stage, we issue the following directions, which will apply to all the states: (i) The copies of the existing policies governing the grant of ...

S Carolina executes Richard Moore despite plea to cut sentence to life

South Carolina put Richard Moore to death by lethal injection Friday for the 1999 fatal shooting of a convenience store clerk, despite a broad appeal for mercy by parties that included three jurors and the judge from his trial, a former prison director, pastors and the his family. Moore, 59, was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m. Moore was convicted of killing the Spartanburg convenience store clerk in September 1999 and sentenced to death two years later. Moore went into the store unarmed, took a gun from the victim when it was pointed at him and fatally shot him in the chest as the victim shot him with a second gun in the arm. Moore's lawyers asked Republican Gov. Henry McMaster to reduce his sentence to life in prison without parole because of his spotless prison record and willingness to be a mentor to other inmates. They also said it would be unjust to execute someone for what could be considered self-defense and unfair that Moore, who is Black, was the only inmate on the state's dea

Caste-based labour division in prisons is unconstitutional: Supreme Court

Asking the marginalised to clean and sweep 'while allowing the high castes to do cooking' is discriminatory, it says

Attempted jailbreak at Congo prison kills 129 people leading to chaos

An attempted jailbreak in Congo's main prison left 129 people dead, including some who were shot by guards and soldiers and others who died in a stampede at the overcrowded facility, authorities said Tuesday. One prominent activist put the death toll at more than 200. A provisional assessment showed that 24 inmates were fatally shot by warning" shots fired by guards as they tried to escape from the Makala Central Prison in the capital Kinshasa early on Monday, Congolese Interior Minister Jacquemin Shabani said on the social media platform X. There are also 59 injured people taken into care by the government, as well as some cases of women raped, he said, adding that order had been restored at the prison, part of which was burned in the attempted jailbreak. Shabani did not elaborate on the incidents of rape in the prison, which has both male and female inmates, as well as military personnel facing charges. It wasn't immediately clear if all 129 fatalities were inmates and officials

Behind prisoner swap: Spies, a killer, secret messages, unseen diplomacy

Quiet negotiations between the United States and Russia over a possible prisoner swap had dragged on for more than a year

'Can't allow Police to peep into private life of accused on bail,' says SC

The Supreme Court on Monday said there cannot be a bail condition which allows the police to peep into the private life of an accused in a criminal case. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan set aside a bail condition imposed by the Delhi High Court requiring a Nigerian national to share the Google Maps pin in his mobile device with the investigating officer in a drugs case. Justice Oka, pronouncing the verdict said, "There cannot be a bail condition defeating the very objective of bail itself. We have said Google pin cannot be a bail condition. There can't be a bail condition enabling the police to constantly track the movement of the accused. Police cannot be allowed to peep into the private life of the accused on bail." The court pronounced the verdict on a plea of Frank Vitus, a Nigerian national challenging the bail condition in a drugs case. On April 29, the top court had reserved its verdict said it would examine whether one of the conditions imposed by the Delhi

Inmates of Sambhajinagar prison get smart cards to talk with kin, lawyers

Authorities have distributed smart cards to nearly 650 inmates from the Harsul Central Jail in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city to help them stay in touch with their family members and lawyers, an official said on Wednesday. The smart cards will allow the inmates to make three free calls, each for six minutes, a week, a district official said in a release. Many families cannot come to meet their prisoner relatives in jail due to financial conditions. Therefore, to connect the prisoners with their families (and lawyers), smart cards have been provided to 650 prisoners at Harsul jail, the release said. However, the release did not specify if the inmates can call only those numbers shared in advance with the jail authorities or any number they choose. The facility calling booth has been made available on the prison premises for the prisoners as well as those under judicial custody, it said. The Harsul correctional set-up is one of the nine central jails in Maharashtra.

Packed beyond capacity, prisons in India have got more crowded in 5 years

Nearly 80% of the inmates are undertrials; UP district jails have twice the numbers they were built for

Decongesting Indian prisons

Govt comes up with a practical solution

HC frames guidelines for compensation to prisoners injured while working

A prisoner cannot be made to suffer due to the inadequacy of policies and a firm attitude by the court was needed to "awaken the relaxed authorities from their slack approach" towards prisoners' fundamental rights, the Delhi High Court has observed. The court made the observations while issuing a slew of guidelines for quantifying and assessing the compensation to be paid to a prisoner for injuries sustained while working in jail. In case a convict suffers work-related amputation or a life-threatening injury, the court said, the jail superintendent will be duty-bound to inform the concerned jail inspecting judge within 24 hours of the incident. A three-member committee comprising Director General (Prisons) of Delhi, medical superintendent of a government hospital and secretary of Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) of the concerned district will be constituted to assess and quantify the compensation to be paid to the victim, it said. The court also said that interim ...

BS READS: Are corporate-run prisons an answer to India's rotting jails?

By allowing corporate entities to manage separate jails for undertrials, state governments could free up to 70 per cent capacity in India's notoriously overcrowded prisons

SC constitutes committee to look into jail issues, suggest reform measures

The bench was hearing a matter relating to inhuman conditions in 1,382 prisons across India