RE-INHUMAN CONDITIONS IN 1382 PRISONS versus .

Citation: [2018] 12 S.C.R. 78 · Decided: 25-09-2018 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: MADAN B. LOKUR · Disposal: Directions issued

Cited by 1 judgment(s) · cites 13 · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2018] 12 S.C.R.
RE-INHUMAN CONDITIONS IN 1382 PRISONS
(Writ Petition (Civil) No.406 of 2013)
SEPTEMBER 25, 2018
[MADAN B. LOKUR, S. ABDUL NAZEER AND
DEEPAK GUPTA, JJ.]
Public Interest Litigation – Prison Reforms – Dire necessity
of reforms in prison administration and prison management – Held:
Union Government directed to issue a notification constituting a
Supreme Court Committee on prison reforms consisting of: (i) One
former Judge of the Supreme Court as its Chair; (ii) Inspector
General of Police, Bureau of Police Research and Development as
its member; (iii) Director General (Prisons) Tihar Jail, New Delhi
as its member – The Committee directed to give its recommendations
on the following issues as its terms of reference: 1) Review the
implementation of the Guidelines contained in the Model Prison
Manual, 2016 by States and Union Territories (UT’s); 2) Review
the implementation by the States and UTs of the recommendations
made by the Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women
in its report tabled in the Parliament titled ‘Women in Detention and
Access to Justice,’ and the advisory issued by the Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA) in this regard; 3) To review the two training manuals
for prison personnel prepared by Bureau of Police Research &
Development (BPR&D), ‘Training Manual of Basic Course for
Prison Officers 2017’ and ‘Training Manual of Basic Course for
Prison Warders 2017’ and forwarded to States and UTs; 4) Review
the recommendations made in the report of the Ministry of Women
and Child Development in collaboration with the National
Commission for Women and the National Law University Delhi on
‘Women in Prisons’; 5) Review the recommendations made in the
report of the National Commission for Women on ‘Inspection of
Prisons/Jails/ Custodial Homes housing Women’; 6) Review the
implementation by States and UTs of the Guidelines contained in
‘Living conditions in Institutions for Children in Conflict with Law’
prepared by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD)
and the Model Rules and Procedures prepared by the MWCD
under the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2015
and Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules,
 [2018] 12 S.C.R. 78
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2016; 7) Review the status of the implementation of the guidelines
and advisories issued by MHA to the States and UTs; 8) The
Committee may give its consolidated recommendations based on the
above and suggest measures to improve the implementation of the
aforementioned guidelines and advisories, subject to budgetary
resources available with the States and the UTs; 9) To examine the
extent of overcrowding in prisons and correctional homes and
recommend remedial measures, including an examination of the
functioning of Under Trial Review Committees, availability of legal
aid and advice, grant of remission, parole and furlough; 10) To
examine violence in prisons and correctional homes and
recommend measures to prevent unnatural deaths and assess the
availability of medical facilities in prisons and correctional homes
and make recommendations in this regard; 11) To assess the
availability and inadequacy of staff in prisons and correctional
homes and recommend remedial measures; 12) To suggest training
and educational modules for the staff in prisons and correctional
homes with a view to implement the suggestions; 13) To assess the
feasibility of establishing Open Prisons, the possibility of and the
potential for establishing Open Prisons in different parts of the
country and give effect to the recommendations; 14) To recommend
steps for the psycho-social well-being of minor children of women
prisoners, including their education and health; 15) To examine
and recommend measures for the health, education, development
of skills, rehabilitation and social reintegration of children in
Observation Homes, Places of Safety and Special Homes
established under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and
Protection of Children) Act, 2015; 16) Generally, any other
recommendation that the Committee may deem appropriate, fit and
proper in furtherance of reforms in prisons and correctional homes;
17) The Committee while giving its suggestions and
recommendations may also suggest changes or amendments to
various guidelines contained in the Modern Prison Manual, 2016
and also various directives issued by the Government of India –
The Committee was further directed to devise its own

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