Early release from jails an incentive, not privilege
The release of convicts is a purely humanitarian exercise to mitigate their personal hardships in larger public interest.
On directions from the Supreme Court, the Punjab & Haryana High Court has initiated suo motu proceedings to monitor and supervise implementation of the early release guidelines for the convicts, popularly known as Pre-mature Release (PMR) Policies.
PMR is an important correctional toolkit, whereby, good conduct prisoners are freed from jail before they serve full term of the sentence awarded to them by the trial court. Early release of convicts does not amount to overturning of judgment of conviction, it is a prerogative of the government authorities to mitigate punishment in appropriate cases. PMR would depend on many factors including public interest, gravity and nature of the offence, signs of reformation exhibited by the convict and impact of the release on the victims and society in general.
Early release of good conduct prisoners serves two important purposes, one for the prison administration and another for the convicts. Possibility of release before time singularly motivates prison inmates to exhibit good conduct and lead a disciplined life.
Freedom before full term of sentence also protects the convicts from ill-effects of long incarceration and, inter alia, facilitates their re-integration with the mainstream society. Overall good conduct and probability of becoming a useful citizen are the two main considerations for making an inmate eligible for PMR.
The two powers of the authorities to remit and commute sentence vary in nature and scope and are mutually exclusive; they are exercised by the competent authorities independent of each other. The apex court in Prem Raj v. Delhi Administration (2003) has clarified that ‘remission’ entails reducing the quantum in the same category of sentence, without changing its type, whereas, ‘commutation’ implies changing the type of sentence to a lower category of punishment; the two terms are not interchangeable.
In a welfare state, executive governments are expected to solve problems and address miseries of the people. Therefore, the appropriate governments are conferred powers to suspend or remit sentence on case- to-case basis, with or without conditions.
This power is to be exercised after obtaining and considering opinion of the convicting court. The release of convicts under this provision is a purely humanitarian exercise to mitigate their personal hardships in larger public interest. Since this power is to be exercised on the request of convicts, no policy framework is necessary; procedural guidelines though can always be issued to maintain uniformity.
Undoubtedly, premature release of convicts is neither a privilege nor a right of every prisoner; it is an incentive which is granted by the executives based on some prescribed eligibility criteria. Over the years, several conceptual and procedural flaws have crept in the laws as well as in implementation of the PMR policies, which need immediate correction.
