81,027 inmates in UP jails against capacity of 48,298: RTI
Gulam Jeelani, Hindustan Times Lucknow, November 04, 2013
First Published: 10:00 IST(4/11/2013) | Last Updated: 10:06 IST(4/11/2013)
Jails
in Uttar Pradesh are clearly overcrowded with a prison population of
81,027 against the capacity of 48,298 inmates, reveals an RTI plea.
Urvashi Sharma, an activist, had filed an eight-point RTI plea,
seeking details about the number of people in prisons across the state
and their total capacity.
The information released by the department of jail administration and
reform services indicated that in UP jails the occupancy was almost
double the sanctioned strength as on April 30, 2013.
“The total capacity of UP jails is 48,298 while the number of
prisoners is 81,027,” read the reply by Sharad, deputy inspector general
(prisons) and public information officer (PIO).
The plea further revealed that the jail inmates comprised of 25,567 convicted persons and 55,460 under trials.
For the rest of the queries that included one seeking details about
jail inmates even after the expiry of more than 50% of the maximum
imprisonment specified for the charges they were booked for, the PIO
referred the query to respective jails.
In 2010, an RTI plea revealed that as against a total capacity of 44,439, jails in Uttar Pradesh had 83,803 inmates.
This meant that the occupancy rate in 2010 was 188.5 %. The
district-wise reply sought in 2010 revealed that in majority of the
jails the occupancy was almost double the sanctioned strength.
“Nothing much has changed over the years,” said Urvashi.
According to the recently prison capacity of 5,850. After Chattisgarh
with 252.6 % occupancy and Delhi with 193.8% occupancy, UP is the third
on the list with an occupancy rate of 167.7%.
In Punjab, 23,219 prisoners occupied space meant for only 17,410 and
the occupancy rate is 133.4%. Women prisoners too had to adjust with the
overcrowding problem in UP with an occupancy rate of 102.8%.
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