All You Need To Know About Prisoner’s Rights

We all know who a prisoner is - a person who has been deprived of a certain level of freedom or liberty, typically one who is confined to prison as a punishment for a crime he/she has committed, or been alleged to have committed. Even though prisoners are confined to a place because of their misdeeds (hopefully), they are entitled to certain human rights as normal human beings which cannot be taken away. Although prisoners do not have full constitutional rights in India, they possess certain human rights and are still protected under the Constitution .
 

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Human Rights of Prisoners in India

India being a welfare state portrays a socio-legal system based on non-violence, mutual respect, and human dignity of the individual thus when a person commits a crime, he is not condemned to be a non-human. Even then he cannot be deprived of those aspects of life which constitute human dignity. There is no express provision in the Indian Constitution that spells out the rights available to prisoners in India, however, the Supreme Court in one of its judgments has stated that the fundamental right to equality, freedom of speech, and life are available to prisoners just as freemen. These rights have been elaborated in the following points:

1. Right to equality- This right to equality guarantees the citizens of India, including prisoners, equal protection of laws within the Indian Territory. It stipulates the concept that like should be treated alike and gives the very basis for determining the categories of prisoners along with their classification for the purposes of reforming them.

2. Freedom of Speech- The right to freedom of speech is available to prisoners along with the right to form an association. However, these rights come with four other very essential rights namely to assemble peacefully, move freely throughout India, reside and settle anywhere in India, and practice any profession, which is not available to prisoners for obvious reasons.

3. Right to life , which has been declared to be the heart of the Constitution, is available to the prisoners without any doubt. The prisoners who have been sentenced to death also enjoy this right till the time of their execution.

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However, these are not the only rights available to the prisoners. There are various human rights available to prisoners and the basic rights include the right to food and water, the right to have a Criminal Lawyer to defend himself, and protection from torture, violence, and racial harassment. The Supreme Court, in its various judgments, has also stated that the right to protective homes, free legal aid, and speedy trial, the right against cruel and unusual punishment, fair trial, the right against custodial violence, and the right to live with human dignity is also implicitly available to the prisoners within the fundamental right to life provided by the Indian Constitution. Therefore, the prisoners do not lose human rights even when they are behind bars.

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Human Rights of Prisoners: Current Scenario

The Supreme Court of India in one of its landmark judgments has stated that prisoners are persons and have fundamental rights even while in custody. However, these rights are constantly violated as the disturbing conditions of the prison portraying custodial deaths, physical violence/torture, degrading treatment, custodial rape, poor quality of food, lack of water supply, poor health system support, and not producing the prisoners to the court, unjustified prolonged incarceration, forced labor and other problems observed by the apex court have led to judicial activism. In a recent case, the entire Sikandra Police Station of Agra city was booked for an alleged custodial death of a 32-year-old man after he was tortured in front of his 55-year-old mother leading to the suspension of an inspector and two sub-inspectors.

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Laws protecting prisoners' rights in India

One of the oldest laws of the nation, the Prisons Act, 1894 is legislation that deals with the laws in relation to prisons in India. The Act has a colonial approach and focuses on the contemporary ideology of reformation of prisoners by changing their hearts and mind to become responsible citizens rather than applying punitive and disciplinary measures of taming prisoners like animals in the zoo. However, prisons are a state subject in India, which means that their administration and control fall under the respective state governments, who are at liberty to make rules and regulations. Over the course of several years, numerous Prison Model Manuals, committees and guidelines have been formed, but structural changes in prisons largely remain insignificant due to a lack of consensus between political forums. In 2016, the Supreme Court took cognizance of the disturbing picture of prisons after examining the conditions of the then 1382 prisons of India and issued guidelines on certain issues plaguing the Indian correctional systems dealing with:

• overcrowding

• unnatural deaths of prisoners

• gross inadequacy of staff

• untrained staff

Unfortunately, little has changed. There have been no worthwhile reforms affecting the basic issues of relevance to prison administration in India. Overcrowded prisons, prolonged detention of under-trial prisoners, unsatisfactory living condition, and allegations of indifferent and even inhuman behavior by prison staff has repeatedly attracted the attention of critics over the years. This has an unfavorable domino effect on the condition of prisons including staffing, facilities, and management, resulting in an adverse impact on the mental and physical state of prisoners.

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Tackling the Issue

The prisons are made for reformatory purposes and not to break prisoners' inner selves so blatantly that they can never fit into their normal selves in the outside world ever after. Therefore, it is the duty of the prison authorities to introduce welfare schemes for the inmates indulging them in something productive and preventing them from engaging in foul or corrupt activities. Moreover, improving prison health is also essential to overcome overall public health issues as the aim of public health policies can never be achieved without improving prison health. As the famous quote given by the father of our nation Mahatma Gandhi - “ Hate the crime, not the criminal” shall be the approach kept in mind in reforming prisoners. A prisoner should be sent to jail for the punishment of the crime and not as a punishment to take away his/her personal liberty and privacy. The punitive system of reformation should not reach the pinnacle of destructiveness for human beings from which they can never be reformed. In case you know of someone who has been denied his/her rights in the prison or if you need any legal help regarding this topic, you must get in touch with a good criminal lawyer . A lawyer has the requisite experience and knowledge to deal with such matters and will ensure you are led in the right direction.

-Nelson Mandela

Advocate Chikirsha Mohanty

Greater Kailash - 1, Delhi
5 years

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