The number of prisoners in India’s jails fell in 2003 compared to the previous year, reducing overcrowding, data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Monday showed.
The Prison Statistics report for 2023 said that there were 5,30,333 prisoners in India at the end of 2023 compared to 5,73,220 in 2022. The fall in number of prisoners also led to a reduction in overcrowding with jails at 120.8% occupancy in 2023, compared to 131.4% and 130.2% in 2022 and 2021 respectively. Among states and union territories, Delhi’s prisons are the most overcrowded with an occupancy rate of 200%. Among major states, Telangana had the lowest occupancy rate for prisons at just 72.8%.
The report said 2023 also saw a fall in the share of undertrials in the total number of prisoners held in jails. Undertrials were 73.5% of total prisoners in 2023 compared to 75.8% and 77% in 2022 and 2021 respectively. The share of foreign prisoners, however, increased from 1% in 2021 to 1.3% in 2023, with Bangladesh nationals leading the number of both convicted and under trial foreigner prisoners in the country.
Almost two-thirds of the total 5,30,333 inmates in Indian prisons were either illiterate (23.8%) or did not finish secondary school (41.1%). Of the total 1,35,536 convicts in Indian prisons, 55.4% were serving life imprisonment while another 16.6% were serving terms between 10-13 years. Of the 3,89,910 undertrials, almost one-third have been in prison for a year or more, the report showed.