At 194% occupancy, Delhi jails most crowded, 2024 NCRB data shows

As per the Prison Statistics of India-2024 released by the NCRB, Delhi jails had an occupancy rate of 194.6%, which was the highest in the country.

Jails in Delhi were the most crowded in the country in 2024, housing almost two inmates per provision for one, according to a report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Wednesday.

A Delhi Prisons spokesperson said they have already started work on a new prison in Narela to address the crowding issue. (Representative image/Unsplash)

As per the Prison Statistics of India-2024 released by the NCRB, Delhi jails had an occupancy rate of 194.6%, which was the highest in the country. While it was an improvement from an occupancy rate of 200% recorded in 2023, it still topped the charts, ahead of Meghalaya, which had an occupancy rate of 163.5%, Jammu & Kashmir (148.3%), Madhya Pradesh (147.1%) and Maharashtra (143.9%).

A Delhi Prisons spokesperson said they have already started work on a new prison in Narela to address the crowding issue. “There is also better distribution of inmates within the three jail complexes. We have brought down the numbers and are working on further reducing the load on Tihar jail,” the spokesperson said.

Delhi also has the highest number of central jails in the country, at 14, with crowding remaining a persistent issue for years, reports since 2020 indicate.Even during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, jails were running at more than twice their capacity, according to NCRB. The report attributed this to Delhi having a significant number of undertrial prisoners, at 17,178.

What NCRB data shows on jail occupancy in India.

In January, HT reported that the Delhi government has awarded the tender for the construction of Delhi’s first high-security prison at Narela. Delhi Prison officials said that the state-of-the-art facility is designed to house high-risk prisoners in isolated cells, addressing chronic overcrowding in jails across the national capital.

Meanwhile, the report mentioned that over 95% of the inmates were male prisoners, citing an occupancy of 18,758 male prisoners against a sanctioned capacity for 9,346.

Despite having almost double the occupancy rate, the report stated that Delhi was third in the number of jail staff vacancies, at 4,069, only behind Bihar (4,593) and Uttar Pradesh (4,278).

The vacancies are mostly of executive staff posts and head wardens, with respective shortfalls pegged at 3,782 in executive staff posts. Against a sanctioned head warden strength of 1,372, Delhi had 272, the report said. Overall, Delhi jails had only 2,447 staffers against a requirement of 6,512, it said.

When asked about the strength issues, Delhi jail department officials said they have been pushing for more deployment in jails across the Capital and the matter is under the state government’s consideration.

Delhi also reported a non-planned expenditure budget of ₹556 crore, which was second in the country.