Decongestion process begins as jail capacity in Maharashtra reaches 2020 limit

The second round of decongestion process at Maharashtra prisons has begun in May based on the recommendation of the High-Powered Committee (HPC) which was formed based on Supreme Court’s direction in March 2020

The second round of decongestion process at Maharashtra prisons has begun in May based on the recommendation of the High-Powered Committee (HPC) which was formed based on Supreme Court’s direction in March 2020. Until Monday, a total of 83 inmates from all over the state prisons were released in the second round. Of the 83 released, 64 are from Taloja jail while five are from Yerawada prison and rest from others.

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In the second wave, six prisoners and one prison staff succumbed to the virus. Last year, seven prisoners and eight staff members succumbed to the virus. Of the total 3,818 prison staff, 3,252 have been vaccinated. Of the inmates, 2,722 have been vaccinated. A total of 41 temporary prisons were established in the state in 2020.

The Covid-19 regulations prescribed for jail inmates across the country have mirrored the condition outside the jail premises since the beginning of the pandemic. Be it the first wave, isolation centres, Covid care centres, or vaccination, procedures parallel to that of society have been laid down for the inmates. As facilities such as jumbo hospitals started coming back to life in light of the second wave of Covid-19 in India, the process that was a shot of life in the arm of the jail system - decongestion - also has started seeing the light of day.

The HPC includes Justice AA Sayed of Bombay High Court and executive chairman of Maharashtra State legal authority; Sunil Ramanand, additional director-general of Maharashtra prisons; and Anand Limaye, additional chief secretary for appeals and security at Maharashtra home department. In the meeting of the HPC on May 11, the HPC decided to restart the decongestion process as cases started rising and the jail population was over 34,000 which is close to its highest overcrowding limit of over 36,000 even after the release of over 10,000 inmates in the first round.

The Bombay High Court in its order on April 29 and the Supreme Court in its order on May 7 had directed the state HPCs to meet again in order to re-initiate the decongestion process. Based on the high court’s direction, during the hearing of suo moto public interest litigation (PIL), the HPC for Maharashtra was reconstituted on May 4.

“From the data placed before us it is seen that the prison population was reduced from 36,061 as on March 31, 2020,to 26,379 as on July 31, 2020, due to temporary release of eligible prisoners pursuant to the decisions of the High-Powered Committee (HPC). After July 31, 2020, however, this figure of 26,379 steadily increased each month and as on April 30, 2021, the prison population has reached 34,224. The data also shows that as on May 11, 2021, the total prison population is 34,733 of which 29,186 are under trial-prisoners and 5,547 are convicted prisoners,” read a part of the observations made during the HPC meeting on May 7. The maximum capacity of all the jails put together is 23,262.

Since the HPC decision was made in 2020, the courts in Maharashtra have 12,751 pending bail applications pending as on May 7. Besides these applications, the applications which were rejected last year will also be allowed to make fresh applications without any implications of their last application.

These applications have to be decided upon before May 20, according to the HPC.

Decongestion in 2020

The decongestion process in 2020 was held in three phases - one for under-trials, one for convicts in cases less than seven years jail term, and one for convicts in non-serious cases with more than seven years jail term. The first phase of releasing under-trials started after a state-level High Powered Committee (HPC) had laid down rules for choosing who should be released. The second decision was issued on May 8, 2020, and the third on May 11, 2020, by the same HPC.

In the first phase, 5105 prisoners were released; in the second phase 2, 686 prisoners were released; and in the third phase, 3,081 prisoners were released.

Overview of Maharashtra prisons

The state of Maharashtra has the highest number of jails and sub jails in the country, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The state also has the second highest number of central jails in the country.

Maharashtra has a total of 64 jails. The 64 jails include nine central jails, 28 district jails, four sub-jails, one women’s jail, one borstal school, 19 open jails, one special jail and one uncategorised jail.

At the end of 2018, Maharashtra jail capacity was 24,095 - 22,830 male and 1,265 female - while the occupancy was 35,884 -34,264 male and 1,620 female. Overall, the jails were 148.9% occupied. Therefore, the jails in Maharashtra were housing 11,789 more people than they are equipped to.

The maximum overcrowding among all jails in Maharashtra was in central jails at 170.70 per cent with 25,333 inmates residing in space meant for 14,841. Therefore, the Central jails were housing 10,492 inmates more than its capacity. Which also means that major portion of the overall overcrowding was concentrated in central jails of the state.

The nine central jails include Aurangabad Central Jail, Arthur Road Mumbai Central Jail, Taloja Navi Mumbai Central Jail, Yerawada Central Jail, Nagpur Central Jail, Amravati Central Jail, Nashik Central Jail, Thane Central Jail, and Kolhapur Central Jail.

To function at its capacity, the central jail population needed to decrease by 10,492. However, the nine central jails collectively managed to shed overcrowding by only around 6,500.

The overcrowding in central jails was followed by district jails which were housing 8,680 inmates in the space meant for 6,938 inmates - 125.11% capacity.

In women’s jail, the capacity was overflowing at 159.16% with 417 women living in space meant for 262.