Jail diaries: India has 18.06L inmates; Telangana has second highest number of detenues

New Delhi: Over 4.27 lakh undertrial prisoners were lodged in jails in different parts of the country as of December 31, 2021.

Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra said the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles prison statistics reported to it by the states and Union Territories and publishes the same in its annual publication 'Prison Statistics India'. The latest published report is for 2021, the minister said.

A total of 4,27,165 undertrial prisoners were lodged in the jails of the country as of December 31, 2021, he said in a written reply to a question.

The minister said strengthening the criminal justice system, including making any new law on a subject and revision of relevant provisions in the Code of Criminal Procedure, etc., including on matters related to the grant of bail, is a continuous process undertaken by the government from time to time.

Among the total undertrial prisoners, only 53 were civil inmates. The highest number of undertrial prisoners was lodged in District Jails (51.4%, 2,19,529 undertrials) followed by Central Jails (36.2%, 1,54,447 undertrials) and Sub Jails (10.4%, 44,228 undertrials).

Uttar Pradesh has reported the maximum number of undertrials (21.2%, 90,606) in the country followed by Bihar (13.9%, 59,577) and Maharashtra (7.4%, 31,752) at the end of 2021.

Total inmates

During the year 2021, a total of 18,06,823 inmates were lodged in various jails in the country. The admission of inmates has increased by 10.8% since 2020 (16,31,110 inmates).

A total of (5,54,034) prisoners were confined in various jails across the country. The number of Convicts, Undertrial inmates, and Detenues were reported as 1,22,852, 4,27,165, and 3,470, respectively, accounting for 22.2%, 77.1%, and 0.6%, respectively, at the end of 2021. Other prisoners accounted for 0.1% (547 prisoners) of the total prisoners

Detenues

The number of detenues has decreased from 3,590 in 2020 to 3,470 in 2021, having decreased by 3.3% during this period.

Among the 3,470 detenues, the highest number of detenues were lodged in Central Jails (83.7%, 2,904 detenues) followed by District Jails (10.8%, 376 detenues) and Special Jails (2.9%, 102 detenues) as on December 31, 2021.

Tamil Nadu has reported the maximum number of detenues (51.2%, 1,775) in the country followed by Telangana (11.4%, 396) and Gujarat (10.7%, 372) at the end of 2021.

Convicted Prisoners increased

According to the data, the number of convicted prisoners has increased from 1,12,589 in 2020 to 1,22,852 in 2021 (as of December 31 of each year), having increased by 9.1% during the period.

Out of total 1,22,852 convicts, the highest number of convicted prisoners were lodged in Central Jails (66.4%, 81,551 convicts) followed by District Jails (27.8%, 34,214 convicts) and Sub Jails (2.0%, 2,461 convicts) as on December 31, 2021.

Uttar Pradesh has reported the maximum number of convicts (21.9%, 26,956 convicts) in the country followed by Madhya Pradesh (15.7%, 19,266 convicts) and Chhattisgarh (6.3%, 7,762 convicts) at the end of 2021.

Prisons number increased

The total number of prisons at the national level has increased from 1,306 in 2020 to 1,319 in 2021, accounting for 1.0% rise. The actual capacity of prisons has increased from 4,14,033 in 2020 to 4,25,609 in 2021, accounting for a 2.8% rise.

The number of prisoners lodged in various jails has increased from 4,88,511 in 2020 to 5,54,034 in 2021, having increased by 13.4% during the period.

The 1,319 prisons in the country consist of 564 Sub Jails, 424 District Jails, 148 Central Jails, 88 Open Jails, 41 Special Jails, 32 Women Jails, 19 Borstal Schools, and 3 Other than the above Jails.

The highest number of jails was reported in Rajasthan (144) followed by Tamil Nadu (142), Madhya Pradesh (131), Andhra Pradesh (106), Odisha (92), and Uttar Pradesh (75). These Six (6) States together cover 52.3% of total jails in the country as of 31st December 2021.

Delhi has reported the highest number of Central jails (14) in the country. States/UTs like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, A & N Islands, DNH & Daman Diu, Ladakh, and Lakshadweep have no central jail as of 31st December 2021.

Uttar Pradesh has reported the highest number of District jails (62). States/UTs like Goa, Chandigarh, DNH & Daman Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry have no District Jail as of December 31, 2021.

Tamil Nadu has reported the highest number of Sub-jails (96). States/UTs like Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Ladakh have no sub-jail in their States/UTs.

Only 32 women's jails

Only 15 States/UTs had Women Jails which is 32 with a total capacity of 6,767 in India. The number of inmates in Women's Jails was 3,808.

The states/UTs are– Rajasthan (7) (998), Tamil Nadu (5) (2018), Kerala (3) (232), Andhra Pradesh (2) (280), Bihar (2) (202), Gujarat (2) (410), Uttar Pradesh (2) (540), Delhi (2) (680), Karnataka (1) (100), Maharashtra (1) (262), Mizoram (1) (96), Odisha (1) (55), Punjab (1) (320), Telangana (1) (260) and West Bengal (1) (314) and the rest of 21 States/UTs have no separate Women Jail.

Women Prisoners with Children

As per the data, there were 1,650 women prisoners with 1,867 children.

Among these women prisoners, 1,418 women prisoners were undertrial prisoners who were accompanied by 1,601 children and 216 convicted prisoners who were accompanied by 246 children.

The maximum number of inmates (2,41,320 inmates, 43.6%) belonged to the age group 18-30 years followed by the age group 30-50 years (2,39,814 inmates, 43.3%).

A total of 72,893 inmates (13.2%) belonged to the age group above 50 years and only 7 inmates belonged to the age group of 16-18 years.

Education of inmates

Among the 5,54,034 prisoners, the literacy profile of 2,22,513 (40.2%) prisoners was Below Class X, 1,33,131 (24.0%) prisoners were Class X & above but below Graduation, 41,565 (7.5%) prisoners had a Degree.

10,082 (1.8%) prisoners were postgraduates and 7,052 (1.3%) prisoners were Technical Degree/Diploma holders. A total of 1,39,691 (25.2%) prisoners were Illiterate.

Deaths increased

The number of deaths in prisons has increased from 1,887 in 2020 to 2,116 in 2021, having increased by 12.1%.

Natural death numbers increased from 1,642 in 2020 to 1,879 in 2021. Out of 1,879 Natural Deaths furnished by the States, 1,796 inmates have died due to illness and 83 inmates have died due to ageing.

Out of 1,796 deaths due to illness, 27.4% (493) inmates have died due to heart diseases and 16.4% (294) inmates have died due to lung diseases. 5

The number of unnatural deaths in prisons has decreased by 2.1% from 189 in 2020 to 185 in 2021. 150 inmates have died by suicide, while 11 inmates were murdered by inmates, 6 inmates died in accidents, 3 inmates died due to assault by outside elements, 1 inmate died due to firing and 1 inmate died due to negligence/excess during 2021.