Odisha ranks 6th in the country w.r.t.

number of jails (91) and 11th in terms of prison

population (17563)1. The state decongested its prisons as fast as possible by releasing 16,789 2
inmates from 85 prisons but yet prisons remain overcrowded. With the construction of new
jails, the overall prison population (91%) is under the sanctioned capacity and hence there is
no overcrowding in these prisons. However, intervening at the micro level, analysing
overcrowding in each of the prison types, the picture is significantly different. The majority
of jails in Odisha is packed beyond their capacity and is overcrowded despite Orissa High
Court’s direction for decongestion in view of the raging pandemic in the state. Currently, the
87 jails in the State house 18,580 inmates as against the full capacity 19,824.3 The Amicus
Curiae appointed by the Orissa High Court to oversee the living condition in the jails and
correctional homes in its latest report found that most of the jails house prisoners more than
the capacity.

Undertrial Prisoners

The undertrial population of prisoners in Odisha towers at 78.6% which is higher than the
average undertrial population of India. Undertrial prisoners are accused for offences ranging
from petty offences such as ticket-less railway travel to higher gravity offences such as
murder. “The primary reason for incarcerating people presumed to be innocent, therefore lies
in the requirement to ensure the availability of the accused to meet the criminal charges
against them.”4 They are among the most vulnerable sections in the prisons, whose right to
liberty has been curtailed before their conviction.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) defines an undertrial prisoner as “a person kept
in prison (judicial custody) while the charges against him are being tried”. It also defines
another category – detenues as those “in prison on the orders of competent authority under
the relevant preventive detention law”. For our present purposes, undertrial prisoners
comprise both these categories and denote all those un-convicted prisoners, who have been
detained in prison during the period of investigation, inquiry or trial for the offences they are
accused to have committed.

1
Prison Statistics India 2019, National Crime Records Bureau (Ministry of Home Affairs) Government of India.
2
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15564886.2020.1835770
3
https://www.thestatesman.com/cities/bhubaneshwar/several-odisha-jails-still-overcrowded-
1502971244.html
4
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (2009), Liberty at the Cost of Innocence: A Report on the Jail Adalats
in India, p. 15
Overcrowding is largely a product of the high undertrial population in jails. This is nothing
new and has been a norm since the 1970s. There is a gradual shift in the convict to undertrial
prisoner proportion in Orissa, from 25:75 in 1995 to 30:70 in 2007. 5 The Seventh Finance
Commission in 1978 studied the proportion of undertrials to the total jail population in
various states and found this category of prisoners to be very high in several states, including
Orissa.6 Even the All India Committee on Jail Reforms (commonly known as the Mulla
Committee) documented the overcrowding issue as “acute” in 1978, with the undertrial
population at a high of 64 per cent of the total prison population.7

Detention Period: Most undertrial prisoners are imprisoned for a minimum of one month to a
maximum of six years, with an overall average stay of 14 months. Almost 33 per cent have
stayed in prison for more than a year. Many undertrial prisoners are detained in prisons for a
long time, and in some cases the period of detention exceeds the maximum period of
imprisonment prescribed for the offence. Often this occurs because the police do not
complete the investigation and file the charge sheet in time. This is a very serious concern
because such people remain in prisons without any inkling of a police case against them.

Lack of understanding of Bail provisions: A significant number of prisoners (30 per cent) are
not aware if a bail application had been filed on their behalf or not. It is evident that the
majority of them are illiterate and “[came] from poorer and underprivileged sections of
society with rural and agricultural backgrounds”.8 Given this, every effort should be made to
“nourish and safeguard the constitutional goal of equal justice for all to the extent possible”.9

The best way to decongest prisons would be by releasing the undertrial prisoners. This can
be done by the faster disposal of cases of undertrial prisoners through video conferencing,
adding court rooms to the prisons themselves, ensuring access to legal aid to all these
prisoners and categorically teaching the prisoners about their right and bail procedures etc.

Suggestions on Covid -19 related best practices:

5
Report in the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Prison Statistics year 1998 to year 2009. There is a lag
of two years in the statistics reported by them. The 1995 statistics were reported in June 1998 and similarly
the 2007 statistics were reported in their latest publication in July 2009.
6
Report of the All-India Committee on Prison Reforms, 1980-83, Chapter XII, p. 170, Ministry of Home Affairs,
Government of India. (Seventh Finance Commission Report, 1978, p. 103, Chapter 10, Para 39).
7
Ibid., p. 172.
8
Letter from National Human Rights Commission, D.O.No. 11/1/99-PRP&P, dated 29 April 1999.
9
Letter by Chief Justice A. S. Anand to all Chief Justices of High Courts, dated 29 November 1999.
  Prioritising the complete vaccination of prison inmates.
 Due to the outbreak of cases, jail/prison authorities in Godda and Tihar have banned
visitors.
 Godda’s jails have also provided herbal juice, vitamin C, warm water with lemon
juice and other herbs to inmates to improve their immune systems 
 Tihar’s prison started in-house production of masks and sanitizers, and therefore
preventing a shortage of essential items 
 With a significant number of prison guards testing positive in Jharkhand and Uttar
Pradesh – and thus leaving prisons at a deficit in terms of staffing – remaining prison
staff have since been asked to remain on the premises with exceptions and are
required to undergo screening before reentering.
 Staff that feel unwell have been asked to stay home . Furthermore, all court hearings
and meetings with lawyers in Tihar have been virtual to reduce the risk of exposure
among inmates.
 In addition to other response tactics, Punjab had implemented a three-tier testing
system, which included (1) testing upon entrance to the jail, followed by a 2-week
quarantine at a separate, off-site jail; (2) testing upon completion of the 2-week
quarantine and if negative returning to the original jail to be held in a separate part of
the jail for another 2 weeks, and if positive, inmates are to remain for another 2 weeks
at the original quarantine site and repeat the process, and (3) if testing negative after
quarantining on site at the jail, the inmates can return to the general jail population

Suggestions on other best practices:

 Filling up of Vacancies.
 Higher utilisation of allocated budget.
 Expanding the infrastructure.
 Inform the prison superintendents about new amendments. Apart from sending
circulars, periodic training sessions and workshops could be organised to make the
prison staff aware of new provisions. This could also be done in collaboration with
appropriate civil society groups.
 Get prison departments’ websites operational and put all annual reports on the
website, which would also provide data on matters that people inquire about.
 Automate the prison system so that data which is often erroneous becomes more
reliable and accurate. That is the only way to ensure authenticity.
 Revive the existing mechanisms for coordination between the various agencies.
 Review cases of preventive detainees and undertrial prisoners to put a complete stop
to unnecessary detention.
 Visit prisons often and also make surprise visits.
 Give written recommendations, check if they have been complied with and if
complaints are rectified.
 Ensure implementation of Odisha Prison rules, 2020.
 In the description of “high security prisoners” in rule 2 (w) of the Odisha Prison
rules, 2020, the phrase “left wing extremism” could be swapped with “political
extremism” to ensure political fairness.
 In the description of “transgender prisoners” in rule 2 (zq) of the Odisha Prison rules,
2020, the phrase “a person having both gender” could be done away with to ensure
acceptance of the whole transgender spectrum.
 Limit the segregation of transgender prisoners when unrequired.
 Ensuring the inmate’s privacy rights, providing for a greater number of toilets and
baths, putting up partitions in the inmate’s sleeping places etc.
 A proper complaint and a fast and fair grievance redressal mechanism for the inmates
along with a chance of appeal to senior authorities.
 The addition of psychiatrists to the staff in every type of jail.
 A mechanism to grant educational requests from the inmates. (ie – request for books,
a study room, teachers of required subjects etc.)
 Maintenance of proper hygiene and sanitation in the prisons.