SUPPORT FOR POOR PRISONERS SCHEME – GOVERNMENT SCHEME
News:
MHA to provide financial assistance to States to help underprivileged inmates
secure bail
What's in the news?
● The
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said
that it would provide States with financial support to help underprivileged
prisoners who are unable to get bail or secure release from prisons due to
financial hardship.
Important Stats:
● According
to the Prisons Statistics of India Report, 2021, over 5.54 lakh people were
lodged in prison and the total capacity of Indian jails was about 4.25 lakh, an
occupancy rate of 130%.
Support for Poor Prisoners Scheme:
● The
scheme envisages “financial support to
poor persons who are in prisons and unable to afford the penalty or the bail
amount”.
Objectives:
● To
further strengthen the process, technology-driven solutions will be put in
place to ensure that benefits reach the poor prisoners.
● Reinforcing
the E-prisons platform.
● Strengthening
of District Legal Services Authority and
● Sensitisation
and capacity building of stakeholders to ensure that quality legal aid is made
available to needy poor prisoners.
Beneficiaries:
● The
scheme will enable underprivileged prisoners, majority of whom belong to
socially disadvantaged or marginalised
groups with lower education and income levels, to get out of prison.
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Home Affairs
Significance:
● The
step will reduce the pressure on Indian Jails and improve the efficiency of
prison, and prisoners reform programmes.
Go back to basics:
Prison governance in India:
● Prison is a State subject
under List-II of the Seventh Schedule in the Constitution.
● The
modern prison system was conceptualized by TB Macaulay in 1835.
● The
management and administration of Prisons falls exclusively in the domain of the
State Governments, and is governed by the Prisons Act, 1894 and the Prison
Manuals of the respective State Governments.
● However,
the Ministry of Home Affairs provides regular guidance and advice to States and
UTs on various issues concerning prisons and prison inmates.