The Week
SPECIAL REPORT
Jails are driving people to insanity and death
Life is one hell: Congested cells and poor food and hygiene are adding to the punishment | Photo: Sanjay Ahlawat
By Syed Nazakat
Sunlight bounces off the razor wires that stretch into flat fields where gun-toting guards are posted. They turn and stare, as the iron gate clangs shut behind us. We have just entered one of the notorious and highly guarded prisons in India-the Agra Central Jail.
Inside, prisoners are locked up in crowded barracks. On the main block, 140 prisoners are jammed in a single barrack whose capacity is just 65. Some kneel in a narrow open space between two high walls to avoid heat waves, as sunlight beats directly down on them. In one corner of the compound, some prisoners are held in solitary confinement because, as an officer said, they are too dangerous to mix with others. At the high-security ward, inmates are locked up separately in a 23-hour-a-day lockdown. The lights in these cells never go off, although they may be dimmed a bit at night. They call it "no-touch torture".
Most inmates here are undertrials, some as young as 20. They describe the barracks as congested and ****** rooms, with an open space in one corner serving as the toilet. The conditions are appalling: they are left to sleep in sweltering temperatures, with no access to daily showers, and subjected to frequent sexual abuse by other prisoners. "A good day," says one of them, "is when I get up and get water for shower and don't get beaten up or raped."
Lately, prisoners have frequently rioted over deaths of fellow inmates. A year ago, the superintendent here was suspended after two inmates were found dead, with one leaving a suicide note alleging that he had been routinely beaten and humiliated, since he had not bribed some of the officers. The other had died of lack of medical care.
The shocking death of an infant happened two years ago. Boby, an undertrial, gave birth to a child inside the prison toilet. The baby died of infection a week later. The inquest report from the superintendent tried to hide the delivery in toilet and the cause of death. But a magisterial inquiry has now found that the woman was not medically examined at the time of admission and was denied medical care in time. The National Human Rights Commission has told the Uttar Pradesh government to pay her Rs 1 lakh as relief.
Estimates say 500 prisoners suffer from malaria, TB, cancer and mental illnesses in the Agra jail. There is shortage of medicine and no help for mental health problems, says Ambaresh Gaur, a senior superintendent praised for his 'jailcraft'-an ability to stay calm and in control during fraught situations. There is no doctor qualified to prescribe antipsychotic drugs and other medications that could calm mentally ill detainees and perhaps reduce the guards' use of physical restraints. "If timely medical help is rendered, many deaths can be prevented," says Gaur. There are just 60 doctors for over 82,000 prisoners in the state.
In the last five years, according to the Asian Centre for Human Rights report, there have been 7,468 prison and custodial deaths in India, an average of four a day. The NHRC, headed by former Chief Justice of India S. Rajendra Babu, says 1,662 prisoners died in 2008 alone.
The commission hears complaints of torture, overcrowding, gang violence and stripping. In the last five years, it directed payment of compensation amounting to Rs 1 crore to kin of victims in 75 cases of custodial deaths. Says Babu: "Prison authorities often hide facts about deaths in prison. But we have given clear guidelines to all the states to honour the rights of prisoners."
Custodial deaths should be reported to the commission within 24 hours, postmortems should be filmed and magisterial inquiry ordered into. But not many states follow these instructions. "Prison administration is a state subject, and this is often cited as the main reason for the Centre not being able to implement the recommendations," says S. Boloria, a Supreme Court advocate.
With 3,73,271 men and women locked up in 1,336 jails with a total capacity of 2,63,911, prisons in India are more overcrowded than ever before. There are 11,835 prisoners in Tihar against the capacity of 6,250, says the prison's web site. In the last two years, 44 prisoners have died in Tihar. The prison authorities have defended the deaths by saying there was nothing untoward about them, no violence or brutality, and all were "natural" and some died "due to the intense heat conditions".
Built in 1958, Tihar has nine prisons, eight in the Tihar complex and one in Rohini. Majority of the inmates here are trapped by a cumbersome judicial process that keeps suspects imprisoned as undertrials. Prison officials, however, love to show off how over the years the prison has transformed into a place that even criminals have ceased to fear. There is better food, good hygiene and effective rehabilitation programmes. But scratch the surface, and you get the other side of the picture, which reveals that there is something drastically wrong with our prison system.
In ward 7 of prison 3, drug addicts and the mentally unstable prisoners gather in groups, where their stories reveal widely varying degrees of access to medical care. We met Chand Mohammad, who is HIV positive. Chand, a resident of Shahdara area of Delhi, was convicted of rape three years ago. Shockingly, no medical examination, which includes blood and HIV tests, was conducted on him. Neglected until now, Chand was given some lifesaving drugs when his conditions worsened. "My health is failing and I fear that I will not survive this summer," says Chand, who, as a convict, has the right to treatment at a hospital of his choice at his own expense. But, he says, doctors say it is too late to seek medical help.
According to the modern jail manual, every jail should have doctors, daily inspection and emergency health care facilities. But Dr Murli Karnam, who was appointed by the Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission to survey the condition of prisons in the state, was shocked by the appalling condition: "Deaths in prisons have been rising over the last few years due to the dearth of doctors and medical facilities. One-fourth of these deaths take place on way to hospital." None of the state jails for women have gynaecologists.
Infighting between prisoners is another concern. As recently as April 6, eight prisoners were injured in clashes between rival groups, who used blades, iron strips and pipes. The police trivialised the issue, saying the fight was over a corner space to sleep. Last year, eight people died in violence that a prison official calls "a slow-motion riot".
Moddu Seenu was bludgeoned to death in Anantapur prison in Andhra Pradesh on November 10, 2008. Police said a cellmate hit Seenu with a dumbbell after he refused to switch off lights. Others see more to it, as Seenu was the main accused in the murder of Telugu Desam Party MLA Paritala Ravi. A magisterial inquiry is on to find how the prisoner managed to sneak in the dumbbell and why no attempt was made to save Seenu.
The All India Jail Reforms Committee, headed by Justice Anand Narain Mulla, made 658 recommendations relating to legislation, prison buildings, living conditions, medical and psychiatric services, security and separation of prisoners into different categories. But they are yet to be implemented.
Unless prisons become open for scrutiny, some experts say, imprisonment will only escalate the viciousness of crime. "Imprisonment animalises people," says former inspector general, prisons of Tihar, Kiran Bedi, who was praised for prison reforms during her tenure. "Until respect for human rights is inculcated in the police personnel at induction level, and senior officers don't disapprove it, this problem will not be solved."
Criminal justice reforms can be a complex work. But as R.K. Saxena, inspector-general (retd), Rajasthan prisons, says, the best way to stop prison deaths and abuses is to do deal with overcrowding: "The prison population puts great pressure on both prisoners and staff." Referring to a report by the National Police Commission, he says: "Sixty per cent of arrests in India are unjustified or unnecessary."
The financial inability to secure bail or hire a lawyer leaves many prisoners in limbo. "The majority of prisoners have little financial power to secure their bail," says Ambaresh Gaur. Prison rules dictate that undertrials may not be made to work, as they are still innocent in the eyes of the law. This means that they sit idle all day long, confined to their cells, making them more vulnerable to mental illness. "Prisoners are more vulnerable to mental illness in the regime of control, enforced solitude and insecurity about future prospects and inadequate health services," says Murli Karnam. "Many inmates commit suicide to escape daily suffering."
Outside the Agra Central Jail, not far from the main gate, a young man is waiting to meet his brother-in-law who is convicted of murder. Sonu Sharma, 28, walks up to talk to us, watched intently by an officer. "He is behind the bars for almost seven years now. Every time I visit the prison I request authorities to keep him here for another five years, until he completes his life sentence, but keep him alive," Sonu says, his voice cracking. He stops to gather himself. "I fear that he will not survive the prison. He may be killed or he may kill himself out of frustration." Going by the sordid plight of prisoners, his fears are not unfounded.
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