NEW DIMENSION IN HUMAN RIGHTS VIS-À-VIS RIGHTS OF PRISONERS

Project submitted to:

MS. SURABHI SINGH

(Faculty, Human Rights Law)

Project Submitted by:

LOKESH MEWARA , Semester - VII, Roll No. 627, Section ‘A’

PRASHANT VERMA, Semester - VII, Roll No. 641, Section ‘A’

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF STUDY AND RESEARCH IN LAW, RANCHI

 NEW DIMENSIONS IN HUMAN RIGHTS VIS-A-VIS RIGHTS OF PRISONERS

“Crime is the outcome of a diseased mind and jail must have an environment of hospital for
treatment and care”

- Mahatma Gandhi

ABSTRACT
Imprisonment is the most common method of punishment resorted to by almost all legal systems.
History stands proof to its employment in ancient times.1 When a person is put 'behind bars' he
loses many of his rights. A sentence of imprisonment does not automatically extinguish all legal
rights of a prisoner. Except the rights deprived to the person by the incarceration, some residuary
rights remain. A person's liberty is circumscribed by the very fact of his confinement. The full
panoply of fundamental rights cannot be enjoyed by him, but the physical restrictions imposed
on him may not be more than reasonably necessary for security. 2 Many experts believe that the
main objective of prisons is to bring the offenders back to the mainstream of the society. Indian
prisons have always been portrayed as rehabilitation centers. They intend to ensure that every
prisoner who has been locked up will be taught the values of life, and will be motivated to live in
a better way. But sadly, the story is completely different, almost every time. This paper will deal
with the intricacies and nuances of various existing legislations that governs and deals with the
prisoners in India such as Prisons Act 1894, Prisoners‘ Act 1900, and Transfer of Prisons Act
1950. Apart from the specific legislations, special emphasis would be laid upon Articles 14, 19
and 21 of the Constitution of India which are relevant with regard to prisoner’s rights. The paper
will also deal with the scope, extent and applicability of the rights of the prisoners that has been
evolved by judicial interpretation. Supreme Court and various High Courts have examined a
variety of reliefs that could remedy the wrong done to the individual, through this paper an
attempt will be made to focus on the multifaceted aspects of the various evolving rights of the
prisoners.

1
John Lewis Gillin, “Criminology and Penology”, Page-372, Vol 2 (3rd Ed, Kessinger Publishing 1977).
2
V.R. Krishna Iyer, “A Constitutional Miscellany”, Page-153, (Eastern Book Co. 1986).
 INTRODUCTION
Respect for human rights lies at the heart of good governance. In a democratic society, it is the
responsibility of the State to protect and promote human rights. All State institutions whether
they are the police department, the army, the judiciary or civil administration have a duty to
respect human rights, prevent human rights violations, and take active steps for the promotion of
human rights. The role of the police is especially significant in this respect. The police is charged
with the responsibility of maintaining order and enforcing laws. Therefore, the onus of bringing
those who break the law including laws which protect people’s human rights. Unfortunately,
many a time, while discharging this duty, actions of the police conflict with human rights. Police
officers are pressured to get quick results, often with unofficial guarantees that they may use any
means possible to accomplish the task at hand. However, the police as protectors of the law have
both a legal duty and a moral obligation to uphold human rights standards and act strictly in
accordance with the law and the spirit of our Constitution. The Constitution - the supreme law of
our country - entitles everyone living in India to protection of their human rights. Part III, the
chapter on Fundamental Rights, which is referred to as the heart of the Constitution, guarantees
basic human rights to all. It pledges that the State will safeguard human rights and will protect
citizens from undue invasions on their liberty, security and privacy.
The importance of protecting human rights in a closed institution such as a prison is well
established in the various human rights instruments and bodies that exist to provide the necessary
safeguards for those detained by the state. Every prisoner looks back at the dawn and views with
anguish, the empty space which is used to fill his world. Imprisonment may strip him of certain
facets of life. Necessary, it is. At the same time, he does not become a non-person and such
rights, as human dignity requires and circumstances justify must be granted to him. The
problems must be identified before remedies are thought of.3
Different set of persons inside the prisons such as under trials and detainees have various rights.
How the courts determine scope and content of each type of prisoner rights? What are the
standards adopted by the courts in this approach? This study is mainly focused upon the rights of
the under trials as well as the rights of convicted prisoners. However, the rights of other classes
of prisoners are also probed into.

3
A Convict Prisoner In The Central Prison v. State Of Kerala [1993] CriLJ 3242.
Justice Krishna Iyer has aptly indicated the need of a national prisoner rights policy in the new
situation. He said:
"A reformative philosophy, rehabilitative strategy, therapeutic prison treatment and enlivening
of prisoner's personality through a technology of fostering the fullness of being such a creative
art of social defence and correctional process activising fundamental guarantees of prisoner's
rights, is the hopeful note of national prison policy struck by the Constitution and the court".4
It is important to be noted that, as per international norms and standards, all human beings,
including prisoners, are to be treated as per the principle of non discrimination, that is, everyone
is equal before the law and deserves equal protection of the law. This becomes important in light
of the special categories of prisoners.
T.V. Vatheeswaran v. State of Tamil Nadu5, it was held that the Articles 14, 19 and 21 are
available to the prisoners as well as freemen. Prison walls do not keep out fundamental rights.

RIGHT TO HUMAN DIGNITY UNDER ARTICLE 21 OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION

Right to Human Dignity is considered to be a basic right. 6 Prisoners should be treated with
humane behavior and not as non human. This right focuses on safeguard of rights of a person
behind the bars at par with person outside of the four walls.
In the case of Charles Sobhraj v. Superintendent of Jail7,the court regarded to it as infringement
of Article 21 and held that right to life means more than mere animal existence. Even prisoners
who have committed heinous crimes do not cease to be a human being and hence their dignity
should be maintained. These rights of a person in cannot be taken away except in cases where the
law requires it.
In Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration8,the apex court held that solitary confinement where
putting an end to the liberty of a person to move around and talk to anyone. This harm, to a
person’s liberty violates Article 21 until this confinement has been backed by some law.
Relying on this decision JUSTICE KRISHNA IYER in Prem Shankar Shukla v. Delhi
Administration9, declared handcuffing rule of Punjab Police, which basically discriminated on

4
V.R. Krishna lyer, “A National Prison Policy - Constitutional Perspective and Pragmatic Parameters” (Andhra
University Press, Andhra University 1981) 7
5
1983 SCR (2) 348.
6
Justice Puttaswami (Retired) v. Union of India, (2017) 10 SCC 1.
7
Charles Sobrajv.Supdt. Central Jail, Tihar, New Delhi, 1979 SCR(1)512.
8
Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration 1980 AIR 1579.
the basis of economic condition of a person while handcuffing him as harsh, unreasonable and
arbitrary.10
Justice Chandrachud in the case of D.B.M. Patnaik v. State of Andhra Pradesh11, stated that:
“Convicts are not by mere reason of conviction, denuded to all Fundamental Rights which they
otherwise posses, A convict is entitled to the precious right guaranteed by Article 21 of the
constitution that he shall not be deprived of his life and personal liberty except according to the
procedure established by law”.12

RIGHT TO EQUALITY UNDER ARTICLE 14 OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION

Every person has a fundamental right to equality so as to prisoners in prison. But there have been
cases in which an unreasonable discrimination is being reported. It has been allegedly said that
the prisoner with money got better food clothing and cells to stay in.Further in respect to medical
facilities provided by the jail authority it has been said that a better medical service is being
provided to the prisoner with money to spare in comparison to the prisoner who don’t have
money or with lesser money.13

RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND E XPRESSION (ARTICLE 19 (1) (A) OF THE INDIAN
CONSTITUTION )
The prisoner should be allowed to raise their voice against any wrong including the conditions of
the prisons or the treatment meted out to them.
In Charles Sobraj v. The Suptd. Central Jail, Tihar14, it has been stated that “Imprisonment does
not spell farewell to fundamental rights” and “Prisoners retain all rights enjoyed by free citizens
except those lost necessarily as an incident of confinement. Rights enjoyed by prisoners under
Arts 14, 19 and 21 though limited are not static and will rise to human heights when challenging
situations arise.”

9
Prem Shankar Shukla v. Delhi Administrtion1980 AIR 1535.
10
Ibid.
11
D. Bhuvan Mohan Patnaik and others v.State of Andhra Pradesh and Others 1974 AIR 2092.
12
Ibid.
13
Report based on the proceedings on the workshops organised at Bhopal by the Commonwealth Human Rights
Initiative (CHRI) in collaboration with the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission (MPHRC)- Prisons and
Human Rights, 1998.
14
1979 SCR (1) 512.
 RIGHT TO SPEEDY TRIAL
In the case of Hussainara Khatoon & Ors v. Home Secretary, State of Bihar15, the Supreme
Court has stated that “The State is under a constitutional mandate to ensure speedy trial and
whatever is necessary for this purpose has to be done by the State. It is also the constitutional
obligation of this Court, as the guardian of the fundamental rights of the people as a sentinel on
the qui-vive, to enforce the fundamental right of the accused to speedy trial by issuing the
necessary directions to the State which may include taking of positive action, such as
augmenting and strengthening the investigative machinery, setting up new courts, building new
court houses, appointment of additional judges and other measures calculated to ensure speedy
trial.”
To ensure that the speedy trial takes place the Hon’ble Supreme Court that “on the very next date
of remand or when the under trials are produced before the learned magistrate or the Session
Courts, the State government should provide a lawyer at its own cost for the purpose of making
an application for bail and opposing remand, provided that there should be no objection should
be raised to such lawyer on their behalf.”

RIGHT TO HUMANE TREATMENT IN PRISONS

The hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration16,opined that in
the eyes of law, prisoners are person not animals, which got deviated from a normal path of set
rules and norms of society, and to punish the ‘guardian’ of the prison where they go berserk and
defile the inherent dignity of human inmate. When a prisoner is traumatized, the Constitution
suffers a shock. Further the court also said that mere imprisonment cannot infringe the rights
under Article 32. It states that the fact that a person is legally in prison does not prevent the use
of Habeas Corpus to protect his other inherent rights.

RIGHT NOT TO BE HANDCUFFED, FETTERED OR PUT IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

It is a common notion that a person arrested should be handcuffed from the moment he is
arrested. But the hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Prem Shankar Shukla v. Delhi
Administration17, said that “Handcuffing is prima facie inhumane and therefore, unreasonable,

15
Hussainara Khatoon & Ors v. Home Secretary, State of Bihar, 1979 AIR 1369.
16
1980 SCR (2) 557.
17
1980 SCR (3) 855.
and at the first blush is an arbitrary action. It is zoological strategy to use “iron” without any fair
procedure and objective monitoring is repugnant to Article 21. The court further said that unless
a prisoner is dangerous to him or those around him/her, he must not be handcuffed fettered or put
in solitary confinement.

RIGHT AGAINST CUSTODIAL VIOLENCE AND DOCTORS ASSISTANCE

It is an inherent human right, right to dignity which can be interpreted as right to integrity of
body and mind. It involves freedom of ill treatment, torture and any sort of medical or scientific
experiment which is detrimental to health in nature. It is prohibited even with the consent of the
prisoner.18 In Sunil Batra19, the Supreme Court held that “the most important right among
various rights is right to physical integrity and mental personality.”
Unfortunately this right is the most trampled right inside the prison, and it’s not about the Indian
jails only. A number of cases has been reported in which prisoner are subjected physical violence
as well as mental violence such as sodomy, physical assault and other inhumane treatment by
their fellow prison mate or the jail authorities. A case was reported where a prisoner was killed
by the fellow prisoner after moving in an agreement, and the murdered was hushed up by the
prison authority. After postmortem an inquiry of National Human Rights Commission was
initiated and further resulted in the inquiry by CID. After a rigorous inquiry it was found that this
was a clear case of murder in which the jail authority had colluded. It is very necessary that an
independent body should be entrusted with the responsibility to visit the prison on a regular basis
and inspect the living condition in the prison.

RIGHT TO COMMUNICATION
It is imperative and human rights that a prisoner should be informed about their family and in
turn the family should be informed about prisoner and the prison wherein the person has been
kept. Neither of the parties should be kept in dark.
In Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration20, the Supreme Court states that “Visit to prison by
families are solace in insulation, and only a dehumanized system can derive vicarious delight in
depriving prison inmates of this humane amenity.

18
Principle 22,General Assembly “Principles on Detention or Imprisonment” (A/RES/43/173).
19
Supra 15.
20
Supra 15.
Further it has also been laid down as principle that the prisoner must be able to know the affairs
of the country through various modes of communication. And if they want they must be keeping
updated about the current affairs of the world and to his or her country.

RIGHT TO ACCESS TO LAW

In Madhav Hayawadanrao Hoskot v. State of Maharashtra21, the Supreme Court held that
“Where the prisoner seeks to file an appeal or revision every facility for exercise of that right
shall be made available by the jail administration.” Further the Supreme Court held that
“provision of free legal services to a prisoner who is indigent or otherwise disabled from
securing legal assistance where the ends of justice call for such service” is a State responsibility
under Article 21.
This also includes their right to receive information regarding their appeal, revision, and review
of their conviction or sentence.

RIGHT TO MEANINGFUL AND GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT

If prisoners volunteer and work while he or she was in prison, then it is their right to get paid for
the work they do as per the rules.No prisoner can be made to do any form of domestic work for
any prison official and “No prisoner shall be employed, in the service of the institution, in any
disciplinary capacity.”22
State of Gujarat v. Hon'ble High Court of Gujarat23, A delicate issue requiring very
circumspective approach mooted before the court. Whether prisoners, who are required to do
labour as part of their punishment, should necessarily be paid wages for such work at the rates
prescribed under Minimum Wages law. The court has before him appeals filed by some State
Governments challenging the judgments rendered by the respective High Courts which in
principle upheld the contention that denial of wages at such rates would fringe on infringement
of the Constitution protection against exaction of forced labour.

PROHIBITION AGAINST SELF INCRIMINATION : ARTICLE 20(3)

21
Madhav HayawadanraoHoskotv. State of Maharashtra, 1978 AIR 1548.
22
United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted by First United Nations
Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, 1955, Section 28(1).
23
LAWS(SC)-1998-9-79.
'No person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.'
This constitutional safeguard incorporates this rule which protects self incrimination of
any accused. The protection is available in case of compulsion and not in the case where accused
himself wave his privilege by entering into the witness box or when he voluntarily gives
evidence on request. In case Nandini Satpathy v. P.L Dani24, the Supreme Court has widened the
scope of this clause and held that compelled testimony is not only limited to physical torture but
also extends to techniques of psychological interrogations which causes mental torture.

RECENT TRENDS AND TREATMENT PROGRAMMES IN CORRECTIONS

Correctional programme has undergone important changes over the years. These changes have
been prompted by rapid growth in crime rate, prison populations, and worries over public safety
and concerns for reducing the cost of incarceration. Despite having relatively less faith in the
rehabilitative ideal, correctional programmes continue to flourish confronting challenges and
issues in it.
“Prisons” is a State subject under List-II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India.
The management and administration of Prisons falls exclusively in the domain of the State
Governments, and is governed by the Prisons Act, 1894 and the Prison Manuals of the respective
State Governments. Thus, States have the primary role, responsibility and authority to change the
current prison laws, rules and regulations.
The existing statutes which have a bearing on regulation and management of prisons in the
country are:
(i) The Indian Penal Code, 1860.
(ii) The Prisons Act, 1894.
(iii) The Prisoners Act, 1900.
(iv) The Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920.
(v) Constitution of India, 1950
(vi) The Transfer of Prisoners Act, 1950.
(vii) The Representation of People‟s Act, 1951.
(viii) The Prisoners (Attendance in Courts) Act, 1955.
(ix) The Probation of Offenders Act, 1958.

24
AIR 1977 SC 1025.
 (x) The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
(xi) The Mental Health Act, 1987.
(xii) The Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection) Act, 2000.
(xiii) The Repatriation of Prisoners Act, 2003.
(xiv) Model Prison Manual (2003).
Various Committees, Commissions and Groups have been constituted by the State Governments
as well as the Government of India (GoI), from time to time, such as the All India Prison
Reforms Committee (1980) under the Chairmanship of Justice A.N. Mulla (Retd.), R.K. Kapoor
Committee (1986) and Justice Krishna Iyer Committee (1987) to study and make suggestions for
improving the prison conditions and administration, inter alia, with a view to making them more
conducive to the reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners. These committees made a number
of recommendations to improve the conditions of prisons, prisoners and prison personnel all over
the country.
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE :
Making human rights as a universal concept turn out to be a corner stone of International Human
Rights law. Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 was the first successful attempt
towards it, later on the principle laid in it was reiterated in numerous of international human
rights convention, declaration and resolution. Some of them are listed below:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
A movement in 1948 in United Nations resulted in adoption of Universal Declaration of Human
Rights by the general assembly of the United Nation. This organic document provides some
basic principle of administering of justice. Among the important provision in the document
following are as follows:
“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment. There are no exceptions.25
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.26
No one is subjected to any sort of arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.27

25
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, Article, 5.
26
ibid, Article 3.
27
ibid, Article 9.
 Every person charged for any penal offence has rights to presumed innocent until guilty
proven guilty according to law of the land, provided he has all the guarantees necessary for
his defence.”
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966
This covenant remains the core international treaty on the protection of prisoner’s rights. Some
of the important provisions of these rights are as:
“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.28
Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subject to
arbitrary arrest or detention.
All persons deprived of their liberty should be treated with humane behaviour and with
respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.29
No one shall be thrown behind the bars merely for the ground of incapability of to fulfil a
contractual liability.”30
Declaration on Protection from Torture, 1975
In the year 1976 on 9th day of December, the General Assembly of the United Nation by
consensus adopted a Declaration on Protection from Torture. Some of the important provisions
in regards to prisoner’s rights are:

“Any act of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is an

offence to human dignity and shall be condemned as a denial of the purposes of the
Charter of the United Nations and as a violation of the human rights and fundamental
freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.31
No State may permit or tolerate torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment. Exceptional circumstances such as a state of war or a threat of war, internal
political instability or any other public emergency may not be invoked as a justification
of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”32
The European Convention on Human Rights (1953-69)

28
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, Article 7.
29
ibid, Article 10.
30
ibid, Article 11.
31
The Declaration on Protection from Torture, 1975, Article 2
32
ibid, Article 3.
European Convention is one of the important international documents on human rights. It has its
own history in the importance of human rights. Some of the vital provisions of this convention
are as follows:
“Every one’s right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life
intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a
crime for which this penalty is provided by the law.33
No one shall be subject to torture or to inhuman treatment or degrading treatment or
punishment.34
Everyone who has been deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to
take proceedings by which the lawfulness of his detention or the arrest can be decided
speedily and if detention found to be unlawful then an order to release should be passed.35
Everyone who has been the victim of arrest or detention in contravention of the
provisions of this article shall have an enforceable right to compensation.”36
Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners
Amnesty International formulated certain standard rules in 1955 regarding treatment with
prisoners. These rules form certain basic principles of law in most of the democratic countries of
the world. Some of the important rules are as follows:
“There shall be no discrimination on grounds of race, sex, colour, religion, political or
other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status among prisoners.37
Men and women shall so far as possible and practicable be detained in separate
institution, in an institution which receives both men and women, the entire premises
allocated to women shall be entirely separated.38
Any cruel, inhumane degrading punishment, corporeal punishment, punishment by
placing in dark cells shall be completely prohibited.39
There shall be availability of service of a qualified medical officer with some knowledge
of psychiatry.”40

33
The European Convention on Human Rights (1953-69), Article 2.
34
ibid, Article 3.
35
ibid, Article 4.
36
ibid, Article 5.
37
Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, rule 6(1).
38
ibid, Rule 8(a).
39
ibid, Rule 31.
40
ibid, Rule 22(1).
Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment41
General Assembly of United Nation adopted a convention against torture, and other cruel,
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. Various important provisions of the convention
are listed below:
“Each state party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other
measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.42
No state party shall expel, return or extradite a person to another state where there are
substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to
torture.43
Each state party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law.44
Each state party shall keep under systematic review interrogation rules, instructions,
methods and practices as well as arrangements for the custody and treatment of persons
subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment in any territory under its
jurisdiction with a view to preventing any cases of torture.45
Each state party shall ensure in its legal system that the victim of an act of torture obtains
redress and has an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, including the
means for as full rehabilitation as possible.”46
As per above stated provisions it appears that conventions are solid organic documents to prevent
the acts of torture or inhumane treatment. But it is very unfortunate that India till now has not
ratified this organic document.
Thus it can be said that the basic required element of human dignity and conditions necessary for
a prisoners to return to normal life are common in every international documents.

IMPACT OF CORRECTIONAL PSYCHOLOGY ON PRISONERS

What happens within the prison is not known to the outside world. The prison officials have
absolute control over the life and activities of the inmates. "Criminals should be treated as

41
UN Resolution 39/46 of 10th Dec. 1984.
42
The Convention against Torture, 1984, Article 2(1).
43
ibid, Article 3 (1).
44
ibid, Article 4 (1).
45
ibid, Article 11.
46
ibid, Article 14.
patients in hospitals, and jails should be hospitals admitting such patients for treatment and cure.
The outlook of the jail staff should be that of physician’s of a hospital.
One cannot expect the state of life in prison to be the same as in the free world. Restrictions on
freedom are inevitable. Despite this position the system cannot ignore the fact that a prisoner is
also a human being. Basic necessities of a human being should not be denied to him. Public
interest in punishing him must be served. Indeed it is also in public interest that the individual is
treated in dignity. So the law should strive to strike a balance between these equally competing
interests. The present state of affairs in prisons is not conducive to strike this balance. The
pathetic conditions of prisoners are not confined to India alone. This can be seen everywhere
throughout the world. Brutality committed on prisoners are rampant everywhere. There is a
tendency to invoke violence upon prisoners.
The purpose of imprisonment of a wrong doer is to detain him or her in a facility which is cut off
from the society and prevent him and hold him back in an environment where he may refrain
from indulging supporting and spearheading further severe crimes against a person or society.
Prisons are deemed to be the places where the offenders are kept to get their ways and behaviour
corrected so that they may become law abiding citizens and live a normal life after they are
released. On the other side it is place where the offenders or the criminals are kept separated
from the society and hence protecting the society from such dangerous anti social elements.
Speaking in regard to Indian prison system it is seen that the prisons are highly overcrowded also
less in number, all this in a scenario where the crime rate and criminals has increased alarmingly.
The prisons in India are experiencing a big in flow of prisoners in the form of under trials or the
persons who are yet to be found guilty. As per the UN global report on crime and justice 2015 in
the Asian countries studies have revealed that more than 30 % of prisons population consist of
under-trial / remand detention and in many Asian countries this figure rose to over 50 %. The
report also reveals that during the year 1997-2007 there is an increase of 52.6 % in prison
population. With such high percentage of increase of prisoners in the prisons during the above
said time period, there should have been increase in the infrastructure, facilities and staff strength
to maintain such big inflow of the prisoners but instead the situation is deteriorating alarmingly
in Indian prisons.
 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
In Re - Inhuman conditions in 1382 prisons47, case, the Hon’ble Supreme Court said:
“Prisoners are peculiarly and doubly handicapped. For one thing, most prisoners belong
to the weaker segment, in poverty, literacy, social station and the like. Secondly, the
prison house is a walled-off world which is incommunicado for the human world, with
the result that the bonded inmates are invisible, their voices inaudible, their injustices
unheeded. So it is imperative, as implicit in Article 21, that life or liberty shall not be
kept in suspended animation or congealed into animal existence without the freshening
flow of fair procedure.”48
A sentence of imprisonment constitutes deprivation of the basic right to liberty. Prisoners are
also human beings and their rights can be curtailed but this does not mean that their rights can be
completely taken away from them. Imprisonment does not entail the restriction of other human
rights, with the exception of those which are naturally restricted by the very fact of being in
prison. With this regard, there is an utmost need of awareness of ‘rights of prisoners’ which is
necessary to protect the rights of the prisoners and which they deserve as a part of their basic
human rights. However, conditions of prisoners in many jails in the country are very deplorable.
It is very much necessary that the directives by the Supreme Court must be enforced in a
stringent manner. Also, prisoners need to be aware of their rights so that they can exercise them.
Not only the prisoners, but also their families need to be aware of the laws and the various rights
that a prisoner is entitled to. Only then can these rights be exercised properly.
Also the frequency of jail inspections must be increased in order to keep a check on the proper
maintenance of prisoners in the prisons and all the rules and regulations in the Prison Manual
must be followed properly.
The existing legal structure of the prisons administration has to be changed, Criminal law should
be amended, a new Prisons Act should be enacted and all Jail Manuals need to be revised. Most
importantly Indian Judiciary must continue to play its constructive and active role in prison
justice. In conclusion it must be never being forgotten that the problem of prison justice and

47
In re - inhuman conditions in 1382 Prisons, AIR 2016 SC 4527.
48
ibid.
rehabilitation of prisoners is only a part of the larger problem of social regeneration. The prison
administration alone cannot successfully rehabilitate the prisoners. It can only be made possible
with the overall efforts of not only the judiciary but also the executives and legislation.

Overcrowding is one of the biggest problems faced by good number of jails. Keeping in view the
human rights of the prisons, it is essential that they are given reasonable space and facilities in
jails. For this purpose, the special attention is being given on the modernisation of jails. More
funds are being allocated to increase the infrastructure in jails. “Detained people are included
because human rights extend to all human beings. It is a basic tenet of international human
rights law that nothing can put a human being beyond the reach of certain human rights
protections. Some people may be less deserving than others. Some may lose many of their rights
through having been imprisoned through proper and legal procedures. But the basic rights to life,
health, fairness and justice, humane treatment, dignity and protection remain to them.

It is evident that over a due course of time judiciary has done a tremendous work during the past
decade to improve the life of a person behind the bars, from time to time judiciary kept an eye on
the deplorable condition of prisoners and keeping that in mind had issued various guidelines in
order to safeguard the rights of the prisoners, but it has been seen that irrespective of certain
guidelines by the apex court, various model prison guides and acts that deals with the prisoners
right, their compliance at the ground reality is not been properly followed. Hence it is necessary
that the steps should be taken in this direction so as to safeguard the rights of the prisoners.
One another aspect related with the rights of the prisoner is the right of their family members and
the spouse, the right to live in a proper manner is affected by the inhumane and the degrading
way of life given to the prisoner in the prison which in turn leads to the impinge on of the life of
their spouse and family members, therefore the Prisoners must be provided with the rights to
Conjugal visitation which must not be given in a full-fledged manner but must be given as a
matter of right to the prisoners of minor crimes and the under trial prisoners to some extent.