Responding to the Pandemic: Prisons and Overcrowding
Uploaded: over 3 years ago; Last updated: over 3 years ago ; Date of Publication: December-2020
All India
April 2020 - June 2020
English
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
This report documents and examines the process of de congestion of prisons across India by assessing the functioning of High Powered Committees (HPC), Undertrial Review Committees (UTRC) and legal aid functionaries. It has vital data on prison population rates as well as a comparative on both pre and post COVID-19 induced lockdown. This data helps in understanding the impact on prison overcrowding as well as predicting future overcrowding rates with High Courts cancelling interim bail and paroles of prisoners across the country. As such this information would be vital for journalists, grassroots organizations as well as other stakeholders to highlight related concerns in their states/region of work.
Research Report - Part 1
The pandemic has led to severe curbs on the rights of prisoners, particularly their communication with families and lawyers, access to courts, access to medical care, access to rehabilitation and vocational facilities, etc. These exacerbated vulnerabilities of prisoners have been recognised worldwide and has been at the centre of several statements and calls upon governments to prioritise prisons during the pandemic. This national study brings forth the decongestion efforts undertaken in prisons by states/union territories across the country in response to the pandemic.
Research Report - Part 2
State Reports
