The government on Tuesday said jails in the country are overcrowded by more than 135 per cent and steps are being taken to reduce the prison population.
"The overcrowding in Indian prisons exists to the extent of 135.7 per cent," Union State Minister for Home Affairs Ajay Maken told Lok Sabha.
In order to reduce overcrowding and improve the condition of prisons and prisoners, the Central government started a non-plan scheme in 2002-03 for construction of additional prisons and barracks to reduce overcrowding, he said.
The scheme also aimed at repair and renovation of existing prisons, improve sanitation, water supply and living conditions of prisoners as also accommodation for prison staff.
"The scheme had a total outlay of Rs 1,800 crore on cost sharing basis in the ratio of 75:25 between the Central and state governments respectively. The scheme has now ended on March 31, 2009," Maken said.
As per the data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the total number of jails in the country at the end of 2007 was 1,276. The total authorised capacity of these jails is 2,77,304.
The total number of undertrials lodged in these prisons was 2,50,727, which constitutes 66.6 per cent of the total inmates.
With a view to reducing the overcrowding in jails, the central government has taken various measures, including amendment in Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, by inserting a new article, setting up of fast track courts for disposal of long pending cases and introduction of scheme of plea bargaining.
According to the Article 436 A, an undertrial prisoner, other than the one accused of an offence for which death has been prescribed as one of the punishments, who has been under detention for a period extending to one-half of the maximum period of the imprisonment, provided for the alleged offence, should be released on his personal bond, with or without sureties.
Further, Section 436 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 has also been amended to make a mandatory provision that if the arrested person is accused of a bailable offence and he is an indigent and cannot furnish surety, the Court shall release him on his execution of a bond without sureties, Maken said.
The Government of India has also initiated the process of formulating second phase of the scheme of modernisation of prisons after consultations with the states and Union Territories.
"Apart from other components being proposed in the second phase, the emphasis shall be laid on construction of new jails and additional barracks so as to address the problem of overcrowding," Maken added.
