Chapter – 1
Prison Institutions
Introduction
Prison institutions are known by
different names by different countries like
‘Correctional Facilities’, ‘Detention Centre’,
‘Jails’, ‘Remand Centre’ etc. Earlier notion of
prison as a facilities in which inmates are
forcibly confined and deprived a variety of
freedom as a form of punishment has
changed with a change in social perception
towards prison and prisoners. It is now
treated as correction or improvement facility
which itself indicates that there is more
emphasis on reformation of prisoners than to
punish them. To achieve this goal, a
congenial atmosphere is required to be
created in jails for reformation of the inmates.
Apart from emphasis on social & ethical
values for amalgamation in mainstream
society after release they also require
education, recreational & vocational training
facilities so that they not only correct their
hostile attitude towards society which will
help them to integrate with the mainstream of
society but also provide alternate source of
livelihood.
In last few decades prison population
have increased tremendously which create
number of challenges before prison
administration like security & safety in prison,
hygienic issues, overcrowding etc. Hence
comprehensive database on various aspects
of prison institutions are required to
understand and analyze issues and
challenges before prison management. This
report contains comprehensive information at
the national level on majority of such aspects
of these institutions hence has been found to
be of immense use to the prison authorities in
planning various activities relating to the
prison administration. This report for the year
2015 is the twenty first issues in the series.
Number of Prisons in the States/UTs
Prison and its administration is a State
Subject as it is listed in List II in Schedule VII of
the
Constitution
of
India.
Prison
Establishments in different States/UTs
comprise several tiers of jails.
Prison Statistics India-2015
The most common and standard jail
institutions which are in existence in the
States/UTs are better known as central jails,
district jails and sub jails. The other types of
jail establishments are women jails, borstal
schools, open jails and special jails.
Details on number of jails in the
States/UTs is given in Table 1.2 State of
Maharashtra has the highest number (154 out
of 1,401) of jails among the States/UTs
followed by Tamil Nadu (137), Rajasthan
(126), Madhya Pradesh (123), Andhra
Pradesh (112) and Karnataka (102).
Arunachal Pradesh has only two district jails.
Central Jail
The criteria for a jail to be categorised
as a central jail differs from State to State.
However, the common features observed in all
the States/UTs are that the prisoners
sentenced to imprisonment for a longer period
(more than 2 years) are confined in the central
jails, which have larger capacity in comparison
to other jails.
These jails also have
rehabilitation facilities. Arunachal Pradesh,
Meghalaya, Andaman & Nicobar Islands,
Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and
Lakshadweep do not have any central jail in
their territories. Madhya Pradesh had the
highest number of 11 central jails followed the
Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan & Tamil Nadu
(9 each) and Karnataka & Delhi (8 each).
The
State/UT-wise
information
relating to capacity of central jails is
presented in Table-2.2. The available
information regarding capacity for prison
inmates in central jails in respect of
States/UTs indicates that Punjab (15,322)
Maharashtra (14,841), Tamil Nadu (14,127),
Madhya Pradesh (13,422), West Bengal
(12,300)
and
Bihar
(11,836)
have
comparatively larger capacity followed by
Rajasthan (9,306), Jharkhand (8,760), Uttar
Pradesh (7,769), Gujarat (7,680) and
Karnataka (7,162).
Central jails in Punjab (1,030),
Karnataka (694), Madhya Pradesh (623),
Gujarat (480), West Bengal (460) and Gujarat
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(480) have comparatively higher capacity to
accommodate female prisoners.
District Jail
District jails serve as the main prisons
in some of the States/UTs. States which have
considerable number of district jails are Uttar
Pradesh (57) followed by Madhya Pradesh
(39), Bihar (31), Maharashtra (28), Rajasthan
(24), Assam (22), Karnataka (19), Jharkhand
(17), Haryana (16) and West Bengal (12)
(Table 1.2).
The district jails in Uttar Pradesh
(43,289), Bihar (18,486), Haryana (14,115),
Madhya Pradesh (8,771), Maharashtra
(6,938), West Bengal (5,217), Jharkhand
(4,975), Rajasthan (4,020), Karnataka (3,861)
and Assam (3,832) have the capacity of
lodging a large number of inmates (Table 2.3).
Generally district jails in some States
have comparatively higher capacity for
accommodation of female inmates also these
States were Uttar Pradesh (2,635), Haryana
(1,247), Madhya Pradesh (628) and Bihar
(599).
Sub Jail
Nine
States
have
reported
comparatively higher number of sub-jails
revealing a well organized prison set-up even
at lower formation. These States are
Maharashtra (100), Andhra Pradesh (99),
Tamil Nadu (96), Odisha (73), Madhya
Pradesh (72), Karnataka (70), Rajasthan (60)
and West Bengal & Telangana (33 each)
while 9 States/UTs have no sub-jails (namely
Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim,
Chandigarh and Delhi) (Table 1.2).
The State of Odisha had the highest
capacity of inmates (10,272) in various subjails followed by Madhya Pradesh (5,289),
Rajasthan (4,234), Bihar (4,012), Andhra
Pradesh (3,302), Tamil Nadu (3,100),
Maharashtra (2,361), Karnataka (2,297) and
West Bengal (2,132) (Table 2.4).
Women Jail
Women jails exclusively for women
prisoners exist only in 13 States/UT (Table
1.2).
Tamil Nadu & Kerala have 3 women
jails each and Rajasthan have 2 women jails.
Andhra
Pradesh,
Bihar,
Gujarat,
Prison Statistics India-2015
Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Telangana,
Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Delhi have
one women jail each. The total capacity of
women inmates was highest in Tamil Nadu
(1,569) followed by Rajasthan (450), Uttar
Pradesh (420), Delhi (400), Punjab (320),
West
Bengal
(300),
Kerala
(272),
Maharashtra (262), Telangana (250), Gujarat
(210) and Andhra Pradesh (160) (Table 2.5).
Borstal School
The primary objective of borstal
schools is to ensure care, welfare and
rehabilitation of young offenders in a different
environment suitable for children and keep
them away from contaminating atmosphere of
the prison. The juveniles in conflict with law
detained in borstal schools are provided
various vocational trainings. They are also
given education with the help of trained
teachers.
Nine States namely, Tamil Nadu (12)
and Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka,
Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan &
Telangana (1 each) have reported borstal
schools in their respective jurisdiction (Table
1.2). Tamil Nadu had the highest capacity for
keeping 692 inmates followed by Punjab (500),
Karnataka
(200),
Maharashtra
(105),
Jharkhand (100), Telangana (93), Kerala (90),
Himachal Pradesh (30) and Rajasthan (20).
Himachal Pradesh (15) and Kerala (12) are the
only States which have reported capacity for
lodging female inmates in their borstal schools
(Table 2.6). Existence of borstal schools was
not reported from any of the UTs.
Open Jail
Prisoners
with
good
behaviour
satisfying certain norms prescribed in the
prison rules are admitted in open prisons.
Minimum security is kept in such prisons and
prisoners are engaged in agricultural activities.
Only 17 States have reported about
the functioning of open jails in their jurisdiction.
Amongst these States, Rajasthan has reported
the highest number of 29 open jails followed
by Maharashtra (13) Kerala & Tamil Nadu (3
each) and Gujarat & West Bengal (2 jails
each). The remaining 11 States – Andhra
Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh,
Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,
Odisha, Punjab, Telangana and Uttarakhand
have one open jail each.
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The highest capacity of inmates in
open jails was reported from Maharashtra
(1,522) followed by Rajasthan (1,325), Kerala
(469), Uttarakhand & Andhra Pradesh (300
each), Tamil Nadu (260), Himachal Pradesh
(210), Telangana (150), Odisha & West
Bengal (125 each) , Bihar (104), Assam &
Gujarat & Jharkhand (100 each), Karnataka
(80) and Punjab (75) (Table 2.7).
Special Jail
Special jail means any prison provided
for the confinement of a particular class or
particular classes of prisoners which are
broadly as follows:
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
Prisoners who have committed serious
violations of prison discipline.
Prisoners showing tendencies towards
violence and aggression.
Difficult discipline cases of habitual
offenders.
Difficult discipline cases from a group of
professional/organised criminals.
Out of the fourteen States/UTs having
special jails, Kerala has the highest number of
special jails (16) followed by Tamil Nadu (5),
Telangana (4), West Bengal (3) jails, Gujarat,
Karnataka,
Odisha,
Uttar Pradesh &
Puducherry (2 jails each) and Assam, Bihar,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan & A&N Islands (1 jail
each) (Table 1.2).
As far as the available capacity in
these jails is concerned, the highest capacity
for keeping the prisoners was available in
Bihar (3,288) followed by Odisha (1,551),
Kerala (1,010), West Bengal (842), A & N
Islands (800), Uttar Pradesh (788), Gujarat
(650), Tamil Nadu (576), Assam (372) and
Rajasthan (264) in their special jails. Provision
for keeping female prisoners in these special
jails was available in Tamil Nadu (404), West
Bengal (70), Gujarat (50), Telangana (44),
Kerala (40), Odisha (39), Puducherry (16)
Assam & Karnataka (12 each) and
Maharashtra (3) (Table 2.8).
Other Jails
Some States/UTs have other jails also
besides the jails discussed above. Only three
States namely Karnataka, Kerala and
Maharashtra (1 each) have other jails in their
jurisdiction. The capacity of inmates (male &
female) in such jails was highest in Karnataka
(250) followed by Kerala (142) and
Maharashtra (28) at the end of the year 2015
(Table 2.9).
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All India -
Prison Statistics India-2015
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