{"id":105452,"date":"2021-05-07T09:23:57","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T03:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=105452"},"modified":"2021-05-07T21:16:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T15:46:06","slug":"poor-state-of-delhi-prisons-demand-urgent-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/poor-state-of-delhi-prisons-demand-urgent-attention\/","title":{"rendered":"Poor State of Delhi Prisons Demand Urgent Attention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">The condition of Delhi prisons has become immensely poor amidst the <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/measures-to-control-the-covid-19-second-wave\/\">second wave of Covid 19.<\/a> They have exceeded their sanctioned capacity and are on the verge of becoming hotspots for mass infections. Considering this, the government should take effective measures for decongesting prisons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Delhi is currently observing over 25000 new Covid 19 cases and 300 deaths every day.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The virus has spread enormously across the state and the situation in Delhi prisons is even worse.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Poor state of Delhi Prisons<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In April 2021, around 115 positive cases were reported among jail staff and 284 among inmates.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, they have the highest occupancy rate in the country thereby possessing a high probability of virus spread and greater deaths.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As of April 2021, the prison population has crossed 20,500. This is twice the sanctioned capacity.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Steps taken for Decongest prisons<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court directed the states to set up High-Powered Committees<\/span><b> (HPC)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in March 2020. The objective of HPC was to determine which inmates could be temporarily released.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Around 3,499 under-trial prisoners in Delhi had been granted interim bail, and 1,184 convicts had been released on emergency parole till February 2021.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the HPCs refused to extend the relaxation after this as the number of cases had come down. This again created a burden on Delhi prisons.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The government now again wants to decongest the prisons however some issues would make the process more difficult.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Challenges in decongesting prisons:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Unwillingness of Prisoners:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Some prisoners feel more safe and secure in <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/state-of-our-prisons-today\/\">prisons<\/a>. They are unwilling to leave the premises at a time of critical shortages in hospital infrastructure and greater difficulties in finding work.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Reluctance of Criminal Justice system: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The system failed to adjust as per the circumstances of pandemic-<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were a high number of arrests by police during lockdown months.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly, reduced functioning of courts delayed trials and enhanced pressure on prisons.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, bails were granted based on regular bail jurisprudence. This focuses on individual prisoners and not overall prison conditions.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Inadequate Data:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> There is a dearth of data on the current prevalence of infection in jails. Effective decongesting is possible only when the government knows the degree of infection spread in jails.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Lack of Priority<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The authorities have shown very less concern towards the health and safety of prisoners-\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>For instance<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, HPC did not reconvene till May 4, and the minutes from this meeting are not yet public.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The last assessment of oxygen concentrators and other medical equipment within jails happened in January 2021.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The higher courts have not acted on petitions demanding the safety of prisoners in jails.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Way Forward<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The government must <\/span><b>take <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/prison-reforms-in-india-21st-november-2020\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">robust steps for decongestion<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This includes setting up temporary prisons, relaxing criteria for releasing prisoners, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The government should <\/span><b>restrict the interaction of inmates with jail staff.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> As it is believed that asymptomatic jail officials may have contributed to the spread of the virus.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, the government must<\/span><b> release data on the prevalence<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of testing, infection, and vaccination in jails periodically. This will improve public monitoring.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To conclude, we can say that the above steps will help in safeguarding the fundamental right to life of prisoners.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/covid-second-wave-india-delhi-prisons-coronavirus-deaths-7303515\/\">Indian Express<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis: The condition of Delhi prisons has become immensely poor amidst the second wave of Covid 19. They have exceeded their sanctioned capacity and are on the verge of becoming hotspots for mass infections. Considering this, the government should take effective measures for decongesting prisons.\u00a0 Background: Delhi is currently observing over 25000 new Covid 19&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/poor-state-of-delhi-prisons-demand-urgent-attention\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Poor State of Delhi Prisons Demand Urgent Attention<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,8043,9],"tags":[1415],"class_list":["post-105452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-current-affairs-cat","category-public","tag-gov_0","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700786474,"cached_date":1704828292},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}