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NEW DELHI: The Central government has drawn up a special scheme to extend financial support to poor persons languishing in prisons as they cannot afford to pay the penalty or bail amount. A home ministry statement on Friday said the initiative will help prisoners belonging to economically weaker, socially disadvantaged or marginalised groups, to get out of jail, which in turn will help decongest the country’s overcrowded prisons.
“The broad contours of the scheme have been finalised in consultation with concerned stakeholders, under which Government of India will provide financial support to the states in order to extend relief to those poor prisoners who are unable to avail bail or get released from prisons due to non-payment of fine, on account of financial constraints,” said a ministry spokesperson.
Technology-driven solutions will be put in place to ensure that benefits reach the poor prisoners; these include reinforcing the e-prisons platform; strengthening of district legal services authority and sensitization and capacity building of stakeholders to ensure that quality legal aid is made available to needy poor prisoners, etc.
The home ministry on Friday stated that the Narendra Modi government has been taking various steps to address the issue of undertrial prisoners from time to time. These include insertion of Section 436A in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and insertion of a new chapter XXIA dealing with ‘plea bargaining’ etc. Free legal aid is being provided to poor prisoners through the Legal Services Authority at various levels, it added.
“Further to ensure that the benefits of the Budget are extended across all intended sections of the society…one of the announcements is ‘support for poor prisoners’. It envisages provision of required financial support to poor persons who are in prisons and unable to afford the penalty or the bail amount. This will enable poor prisoners, a majority of whom belong to socially disadvantaged or marginalized groups with lower education and income level, to get out of prison,” said the ministry.
Prisons being an important component of the criminal justice system, the home ministry sends advisories to the states from time to time regarding better management of prisons. MHA has also been providing financial support to the state governments for enhancing and modernizing the security infrastructure in prisons.
“The broad contours of the scheme have been finalised in consultation with concerned stakeholders, under which Government of India will provide financial support to the states in order to extend relief to those poor prisoners who are unable to avail bail or get released from prisons due to non-payment of fine, on account of financial constraints,” said a ministry spokesperson.
Technology-driven solutions will be put in place to ensure that benefits reach the poor prisoners; these include reinforcing the e-prisons platform; strengthening of district legal services authority and sensitization and capacity building of stakeholders to ensure that quality legal aid is made available to needy poor prisoners, etc.
The home ministry on Friday stated that the Narendra Modi government has been taking various steps to address the issue of undertrial prisoners from time to time. These include insertion of Section 436A in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and insertion of a new chapter XXIA dealing with ‘plea bargaining’ etc. Free legal aid is being provided to poor prisoners through the Legal Services Authority at various levels, it added.
“Further to ensure that the benefits of the Budget are extended across all intended sections of the society…one of the announcements is ‘support for poor prisoners’. It envisages provision of required financial support to poor persons who are in prisons and unable to afford the penalty or the bail amount. This will enable poor prisoners, a majority of whom belong to socially disadvantaged or marginalized groups with lower education and income level, to get out of prison,” said the ministry.
Prisons being an important component of the criminal justice system, the home ministry sends advisories to the states from time to time regarding better management of prisons. MHA has also been providing financial support to the state governments for enhancing and modernizing the security infrastructure in prisons.
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