Prisoners can access email to communicate with lawyers: State to HC

Apart from calling facilities, prison inmates will now also have access to email communication with their lawyers, with the prior permission of the jail superintendent.

Apart from calling facilities, prison inmates will now also have access to email communication with their lawyers, with the prior permission of the jail superintendent. The prison authorities on Tuesday while responding to a concern raised by petitioners that inmates were unable to instruct their lawyers, said that it was decided to allow inmates email access. The decision was part of the draft modified guidelines, pertaining to the safety and well-being of inmates in light of the Covid-19, spreading in some jails.

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The state also informed the court that postal correspondence with prisoners would also be permitted in non-containment zones, where postal services had resumed. The guidelines also stated that relatives and families of inmates who tested positive for the virus, would be informed within 48-hours and the inmate would be shifted to the quarantine centre set up in temporary jails where he/she would be treated for the infection.

The division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice MS Karnik while hearing a clutch of public interest litigation (PIL) through video conferencing, was informed by the state and prison authorities that the draft guidelines submitted in the earlier hearing had been modified, after considering the recommendations of the petitioners.

Advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni who was assisted by additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan informed the bench that the draft guidelines were consistent with the recommendations issued by ICMR and the state health department, from time to time. Kumbhakoni informed the court that the state had also accommodated the recommendations made by the petitioners related to Covid-19.

He added that some of the recommendations made by senior advocate Mihir Desai on behalf of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), the NGO petitioner was related to prison reforms and as the Supreme Court was seized of a petition in that regard, the state had not accepted those recommendations.

“Lawyers duly engaged by the inmates will be allowed to seek instructions either via emails or by speaking to the inmate after getting an appointment via email, in that regard from the superintendent of the concerned jail,” said the modified draft guideline.

The bench has directed the petitioners to submit their suggestions and objections before the next hearing and posted the matter for Friday, June 26.