Transposing Mandela blueprint for prison reforms

The ultimate power of the state over individual liberty in the form of imprisonment is a highly emotive issue, reflecting the values of society.  Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years of his life in prison   perceptively remarked, “No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.” Throughout the world, around  11 million people are detained in penal institutions. Prison conditions vary but inmates are mostly  from marginalised sections of society. Being closed institutions, societal interest is limited or just confined to locking up people. Shut and forget does not work. Stepping  inside the closed world  of prisons, one encounters the grim realities right  from entry to exit. Prisons are complex institutions, beset with contradictory goals. 

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As a colonial legacy, we continue to run a system designed to simply punish with no regard to reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners. Radical reforms have been absent despite numerous committee-setting exercises. 

While physical reforms are easy, structural ones require focus with a new vision and philosophy. New prison buildings and technology can facilitate but cannot usher in reforms without a sound ethos. A progressive legislation based on the correctional and rehabilitation philosophy is needed. Punjab has attempted this with the new Prison and Correctional Services Act. Hopefully, it should not just remain a dead letter. The key lies in  commitment to reforms from all the stakeholders.

A global consensus has emerged with the adoption of the revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Offenders, now known as “the Mandela Rules”. They   emphasise the need for improvement in nine thematic areas: respect for prisoners’ dignity; provision of medical and health services; disciplinary action and punishment; investigation of custodial deaths and allegations of torture; protection of vulnerable groups; access to legal help; independent inspections; replacement of outdated terminology; and training of staff to implement the rules.These provisions have been largely taken  into account while framing the new draft for the state of Punjab. Apart from this, directions of the  Supreme Court on various aspect of  prisoners’ rights were taken into consideration.

Implications for India

These Rules now provide another opportunity to India to review its antiquated prison laws and manuals. An emphasis needs to be given to individual responsibility and also improving the conditions and circumstances of those shut in the prisons. Another critical issue is that of women inmates, accounting for around 5 per cent of inmates, but  whose needs are largely ignored. They don’t require high security, but definitely more individualised treatment.

One major challenge is overcrowding which remains acute despite the construction of new prisons. The modern jail at Kapurthala is an example. Built for 3,000, it has around 4,500 inmates after three years. We must take heed of the dictum: “Wherever prisons are built, the courts will fill them.” So both front-end and back-end strategies are needed to deal with this problem. 

Nearly 3 million out of the 11 million detained  globally are under pre-trial detention. India has around 4.12 lakh  prisoners with over 60 per cent being undertrials. These are not mere numbers but individuals, who may just be warehoused. We need to start looking at alternatives at all stages — pre-trial to post trial. We must consider the damaging impact of imprisonment on persons, their families and community and the costs involved while working on prison reforms.  

With no purposeful activity, prisons cannot be rehabilitative. Only 20 per cent of the prisoners are involved in work programmes. Meaningful work with adequate remuneration is essential. The Centre’s skill development push can be channelised to develop skills and  inculcate a habit of work which will help in post-release reintegration. 

Further, prison reforms need to be embedded in the larger criminal-justice system reforms to make them sustainable. Informed public opinion is also very necessary. A punitive society demanding harsher laws will only result in more prisons and no reduction in the crime rate. Prisons don’t work for everyone. Merely pushing drug offenders into prison does not work. Diversion programmes, treatment programmes in the community and psychosocial counselling  sessions have been effective in other nations.

Implementing human rights in overcrowded prisons, with resource constraints, remains a formidable challenge for India. While training prison staff on human rights issues, I found that their resistance to prisoners’ rights diminished when one discussed their rights as well. 

The work of prison staff, which is reguly unrecognised, gets valuable acknowledgment in the Mandela Rules. Prison staff are important to reform, and this human element should not be riddled with just good intentions, but actions that transform the organisation to meet the outcomes of a safe society. Re-entry of prisoners back into society requires an enlightened and supportive community, who hold the other key to freedom. 

The writer is Deputy Director, Institute of Correctional Administration, Chandigarh. She has framed the draft of Punjab Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2015