Prison Statistics of India

News:The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has released the report ‘Prison Statistics India 2017.’

Facts:

Key takeaways from the report:

• The majority of prisoners in India are under trial prisoners which means they have not yet been pronounced guilty by a court of law.
• Among states,the highest percentage of undertrial prisoners was in Meghalaya while the lowest was in Mizoram.Among Union Territories, the highest was in Dadra and Nagar Haveli while the lowest was in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• The actual capacity of the prisons has increased by 6.8% during the year 2015-2017.
• However,the nationwide occupancy rate in jails at the end of 2017 was 115.1%.Uttar Pradesh prisons are the most crowded followed by Chhattisgarh and Delhi.
• The number of deaths in prisons has increased marginally by 5.49% in 2017 when compared to 2015.
• The vacant posts in the jail administration constitute another major challenge for prisons across the country.On average,only 68.8% sanctioned posts were filled at the end of 2017.

Additional information:

About NCRB:

• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is an attached office of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The agency is responsible for collecting and analysing crime data as defined by the Indian Penal Code(IPC) and Special and Local Laws (SLL).