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Central prisons in Maharashtra strained at 179 per cent; Thane, Arthur Road, Yerawada jails most crowded

As per the figures on December 31, 2018, central prisons in Maharashtra, which have a total capacity to hold 14,841 inmates, had a total occupancy of 25,333, an occupancy rate of about 170 per cent.

Maharashtra prison, Maharashtra prison capacity, Maharashtra prison occupancy, National Crime Records Bureau, NCRB data, indian express As on October 31, 2019, central prisons in Maharashtra have 25,946 inmates, though they have a capacity of 14,491. (Representational photo)

Central prisons in Maharashtra had the second highest occupancy rate — the ratio of the number of occupants to actual capacity — in the country in 2018. The state’s occupancy rate was the second highest after Chhattisgarh till the end of 2018, according to the Prison Statistics of India, published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Thursday.

As per the figures on December 31, 2018, central prisons in Maharashtra, which have a total capacity to hold 14,841 inmates, had a total occupancy of 25,333, an occupancy rate of about 170 per cent. This was only second to Chhattisgarh, which had an occupancy rate of 196 per cent — 13,151 inmates in its central prisons against capacity of 6,707.

Maharashtra prison, Maharashtra prison capacity, Maharashtra prison occupancy, National Crime Records Bureau, NCRB data, indian express

The latest figures, available on the website of Maharashtra Prisons Department, show that the occupancy rate has actually increased to 179 per cent.

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As on October 31, 2019, central prisons in Maharashtra have 25,946 inmates, though they have a capacity of 14,491.

There are 144 central prisons — jails that can hold a large number of prisoners and have extremely tight securi ty measures in place — in India. Nine of these central prisons are in Maharashtra.

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Of the nine central jails in Maharashtra, the Yerawada Central Jail in Pune, Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai and Thane Central Jail in Thane are the worst affected by the problem of overcrowding (see box).

Other states with high occupancy rates in central prisons were Madhya Pradesh (159 per cent), Delhi (159 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (151 per cent) and Sikkim (155 per cent).

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While Maharashtra was also second in the country in terms of the occupancy rate for male prisoners, it was third in terms of female prisoners, after Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.

However, Additional Director General of Prisons department, Deepak Pandey, said several measures were in the pipeline to reduce the occupancy rate.

“There are many measures in the pipeline to reduce the occupancy rate, as suggested by the Justice Radhakrishnan Committee on Prison Reforms. For example, in Tamil Nadu, satellite prisons were created to take the burden off central prisons. On the same lines, we have submitted a proposal to the state government to hand over to the prison department the existing sub-jail buildings, which are currently with the district administrations. Most of these establishments are not even being used as jails. We believe that if this happens, it will not only reduce the occupancy of central jails but also expedite processes such as court appearances of inmates. Expansion of infrastructure in central jails is another long-term solution which is being worked on,” said Pandey.

The Prison Department has recently submitted a proposal to the state government, seeking the handing over of 57 such sub-jail premises to it, so they can be used like satellite prisons, said an official.

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The extent of overcrowding — sometimes the number of inmates is double or triple the capacity of the prison — is a bigger challenge in high-security central prisons, which house dreaded criminals from organised gangs.

They have to be segregated and kept physically apart from each other. Some of the inmates, who have a violent history or are involved in cases of terrorism, also need to be kept separately.

First uploaded on: 10-01-2020 at 09:12 IST
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