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Prison population in UP soars, jails overcrowded

Nov 13, 2013 |

• Age Correspondent

|Lucknow Jails in Uttar Pradesh are rather overcrowded. An RTI plea has recently revealed that the prison population in UP is 81,027 against the capacity of 48,298 inmates. In 2010, jails in UP had 83,803 inmates against the capacity of 44,439,

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  The information released by the department of jail administration and reform services indicates that in UP jails, the occupancy is almost double the sanctioned strength as on April 30, 2013.
  The jail department further revealed that the jail inmates comprised of 25,567 convicted persons and 55,460 under trials.
  
  
  According to Urvashi Sharma, a social activist who had filed an eight-point RTI plea seeking details about the number of people in prisons across the state and their total capacity, this explains the poor amenities made available to prisoners and the deplorable conditions in which they are forced to live.
  
  
  “The number of under trials is growing by the day and hundreds of prisoners who have completed their jail term, continue to live in the prison because they do not have the resources to complete formalities required to walk to freedom,” said Ms Sharma.
  
  
  “Being Human”, the NGO run by actor Salman Khan had offered legal and financial assistance to those prisoners who were forced to remain in prison even after the expiry of their sentence but the proposal has not moved forward yet.
  
  
  Official sources said that the density of jail population was likely to reduce after the newly created districts get their own jails. In the past one decade, almost a dozen new districts have been created but the infrastructure is yet to come in place. Once these new jails come up, the pressure on the existing ones will decrease.