GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1174

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 13TH DECEMBER 2023/ AGRAHAYANA, 22, 1945

(SAKA)

MEASURES TO CONTAIN OVERCROWDING IN JAILS

1174 SHRI G.V.L. NARASIMHA RAO:

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) the number of jails and their capacity for inmates, State-wise, prison,
type-wise;

(b) the number of jail inmates in the country, State-wise, and inmates,
type-wise;

(c) whether there is overcrowding of prisoners in jails and to what extent,

State-wise;

(d) the measures taken by Government to reduce overcrowding and assist

poor prisoners;

(e) the details of the scheme/s formulated, if any, by Government to

address overcrowding and support for poor prisoners;

(f) the detailed guidelines and the status of implementation of the scheme;
and

(g) the details of funds allocated, sanctioned and sharing pattern between
Central and State Governments?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

(SHRI AJAY KUMAR MISHRA)

(a): The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles prison

statistics reported to it by the States and Union Territories (UTs) and

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R.S.US.Q.NO.1174 FOR 13.12.2023

publishes the same in its annual publication “Prison Statistics India”. The

latest published report is of the year 2022. State/UT-wise number of types

of jails and available capacity therein as on 31st December, 2022 is given in

Annexure-I.

(b): State/UT-wise types of prison inmates as on 31st December, 2022 is

given in Annexure-II.

(c): State/UT-wise available capacity and inmate population as on 31st

December, 2022 is given in Annexure-III.

(d) to (g): “Prisons”/ “persons detained therein” is a “State List” subject

under Entry 4 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of

India. The administration and management of prisons and prisoners is

therefore the responsibility of respective State Governments and Union

Territories (UTs). The initiatives taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs to

address the issue of overcrowding in prisons are as follows:

(i) The Government of India inserted Section 436A in the Code of

Criminal Procedure (CrPC) which provides for release of an under-trial

prisoner on bail on undergoing detention for a period extending up to one

half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for an offence

under any law.

(ii) The concept of plea bargaining has been introduced by inserting a

“Chapter XXIA” on “Plea Bargaining” (Sections 265A to 265L) in the Code

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R.S.US.Q.NO.1174 FOR 13.12.2023

of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which enables pre-trial negotiation between

the defendant and the prosecution.

(iii) E-prisons Software, which is a Prison Management Application

integrated with Interoperable Criminal Justice System provides facility

to State Jail authorities to access the data of inmates in a quick and

efficient manner and helps them in identifying the inmates whose cases

are due for consideration by the Under Trial Review Committee, etc.

(iv) The Model Prison Manual 2016 circulated to all States/ Union

Territories has specific chapters on “Legal Aid” and “Under trial

Prisoners”, etc, which provide detailed guidelines on the facilities which

may be provided to under trial inmates, namely legal defence, interview

with lawyers, application to Courts for legal aid at Government cost etc.

The State Legal Services Authorities have established Legal Service

Clinics in jails, which provide free legal assistance to persons in need.

These Legal Service Clinics are managed by Empanelled Legal Services

Advocates and trained Para-Legal Volunteers. These clinics have been

established to ensure that no prisoner remains unrepresented and legal

aid and advice is provided to them. National Legal Services Authority

holds awareness generation camps in jails to generate awareness about

availability of free legal aid, plea bargaining, Lok Adalats and legal rights

of inmates, including their right to bail, etc.

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R.S.US.Q.NO.1174 FOR 13.12.2023

The National Legal Services Authority had prepared a Standard

Operating Procedure (SOP) for Under-Trial Review Committees, which has

been circulated by MHA to all States/Union Territories for making best use

of the same and provide relief to prisoners.

States/UTs have been advised to make use of the above

guidelines/guidance to address the issue of overcrowding in prisons,

through various advisories issued from time to time.

With the objective of providing financial assistance to poor

prisoners, the Ministry of Home Affairs recently prepared a scheme

namely “Support to Poor Prisoners”, which aims at providing relief to poor

prisoners, who are unable to pay the fine amount or are unable to secure

bail due to financial constraints.

Detailed ‘Guidelines and Standard Operating Procedure’ to be

followed by the States/UTs for implementation of the scheme have been

shared with the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations,

who have been advised to constitute an “Empowered Committee” in each

District of the State/UT, who after assessing the requirement of financial

support in each eligible case of a prisoner for securing bail or for payment

of fine, etc. will draw the requisite funds made available by the Central

Government and will provide financial assistance to the prisoner. The

details of the “Guidelines and Standard Operating Procedure” for

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R.S.US.Q.NO.1174 FOR 13.12.2023

implementation of the Scheme are available on MHA’s website:

www.mha.gov.in. “Support to poor prisoners” is a Central Sector Scheme

and all expenditure on the scheme will be borne by the Central

Government. The Central Government has made provision for an annual

grant of Rs 20 crores for implementing the scheme.

****
 R.S.US.Q.NO.1174 FOR 13.12.2023
Annexure-I
st
State/UT-wise number of types of jails and available capacity therein as on 31 December, 2022

Central Jail District Jail Sub Jail

S.No. State/UT Number Available Number Available Number of Available
of jails Capacity of jails Capacity jails Capacity
1 ANDHRA PRADESH 4 3764 8 1711 91 2604
2 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 0 0 2 333 0 0
3 ASSAM 6 4390 22 4600 1 32
4 BIHAR 8 17649 31 24788 17 5007
5 CHHATTISGARH 5 8653 20 4602 8 888
6 GOA 1 624 0 0 0 0
7 GUJARAT 4 7740 11 3595 9 1470
8 HARYANA 3 3613 17 17340 0 0
9 HIMACHAL PRADESH 2 909 9 1303 3 221
10 JHARKHAND 7 10137 16 4976 7 2358
11 KARNATAKA 8 9347 21 4005 27 1981
12 KERALA 4 2979 13 2248 16 539
13 MADHYA PRADESH 11 14604 41 9672 73 5321
14 MAHARASHTRA 9 16110 28 7030 4 50
15 MANIPUR 2 1095 2 100 1 77
16 MEGHALAYA 0 0 5 680 0 0
17 MIZORAM 1 438 8 830 0 0
18 NAGALAND 1 600 11 890 0 0
19 ODISHA 5 4284 9 3848 73 12380
20 PUNJAB 10 20393 7 4203 5 777
21 RAJASTHAN 9 9284 26 6085 60 4124
22 SIKKIM 1 186 1 74 0 0
23 TAMIL NADU 9 14759 14 2875 104 3696
24 TELANGANA 3 4196 7 2249 20 821
25 TRIPURA 1 975 2 276 10 1089
26 UTTAR PRADESH 7 13746 64 52220 2 306
27 UTTARAKHAND 1 552 7 2110 2 779
28 WEST BENGAL 8 13848 13 3818 30 2428
29 A & N ISLANDS 0 0 1 269 3 50
30 CHANDIGARH 1 1120 0 0 0 0
31 DNH & DAMAN DIU 0 0 0 0 2 170
32 DELHI 14 9346 0 0 0 0
33 JAMMU & KASHMIR 2 1411 10 2096 1 26
34 LADAKH 0 0 2 155 0 0
35 LAKSHADWEEP 0 0 0 0 4 64
36 PUDUCHERRY 1 300 0 0 1 12
TOTAL 148 197052 428 168981 574 47270
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Annexure-I
st
State/UT-wise number of types of jails and available capacity therein as on 31 December, 2022

Women Jail Borstal Jail Open Jail

S.No. State/UT Number Available Number Available Number of Available
of jails Capacity of jails Capacity jails Capacity
1 ANDHRA PRADESH 2 280 0 0 1 300
2 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 ASSAM 0 0 0 0 1 100
4 BIHAR 2 202 0 0 1 104
5 CHHATTISGARH 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 GOA 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 GUJARAT 2 410 0 0 4 200
8 HARYANA 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 HIMACHAL PRADESH 0 0 1 15 1 80
10 JHARKHAND 0 0 1 100 1 100
11 KARNATAKA 1 100 0 0 1 80
12 KERALA 3 232 1 90 3 468
13 MADHYA PRADESH 0 0 0 0 7 118
14 MAHARASHTRA 1 262 1 105 19 1612
15 MANIPUR 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 MEGHALAYA 0 0 0 0 0 0
17 MIZORAM 1 96 0 0 0 0
18 NAGALAND 0 0 0 0 0 0
19 ODISHA 1 55 0 0 1 125
20 PUNJAB 2 608 1 500 1 75
21 RAJASTHAN 7 998 1 20 41 1488
22 SIKKIM 0 0 0 0 0 0
23 TAMIL NADU 5 2018 3 281 3 260
24 TELANGANA 1 260 1 93 1 150
25 TRIPURA 1 25 0 0 0 0
26 UTTAR PRADESH 2 540 0 0 0 0
27 UTTARAKHAND 0 0 0 0 1 300
28 WEST BENGAL 1 314 0 0 4 483
29 A & N ISLANDS 0 0 0 0 0 0
30 CHANDIGARH 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 DNH & DAMAN DIU 0 0 0 0 0 0
32 DELHI 2 680 0 0 0 0
33 JAMMU & KASHMIR 0 0 0 0 0 0
34 LADAKH 0 0 0 0 0 0
35 LAKSHADWEEP 0 0 0 0 0 0
36 PUDUCHERRY 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 34 7080 10 1204 91 6043
 R.S.US.Q.NO.1174 FOR 13.12.2023

Annexure-I
st
State/UT-wise number of types of jails and available capacity therein as on 31 December, 2022

Special Jail Other Jail Total

S.No. State/UT Number Available Number Available Number of Available
of jails Capacity of jails Capacity jails Capacity
1 ANDHRA PRADESH 0 0 0 0 106 8659
2 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 0 0 0 0 2 333
3 ASSAM 1 442 0 0 31 9564
4 BIHAR 0 0 0 0 59 47750
5 CHHATTISGARH 0 0 0 0 33 14143
6 GOA 0 0 0 0 1 624
7 GUJARAT 2 650 0 0 32 14065
8 HARYANA 0 0 0 0 20 20953
9 HIMACHAL PRADESH 0 0 0 0 16 2528
10 JHARKHAND 0 0 0 0 32 17671
11 KARNATAKA 1 76 0 0 59 15589
12 KERALA 16 1278 1 535 57 8369
13 MADHYA PRADESH 0 0 0 0 132 29715
14 MAHARASHTRA 1 246 1 28 64 25443
15 MANIPUR 0 0 0 0 5 1272
16 MEGHALAYA 0 0 0 0 5 680
17 MIZORAM 0 0 0 0 10 1364
18 NAGALAND 0 0 0 0 12 1490
19 ODISHA 2 1663 1 500 92 22855
20 PUNJAB 0 0 0 0 26 26556
21 RAJASTHAN 2 964 0 0 146 22963
22 SIKKIM 0 0 0 0 2 260
23 TAMIL NADU 4 453 0 0 142 24342
24 TELANGANA 4 228 0 0 37 7997
25 TRIPURA 0 0 0 0 14 2365
26 UTTAR PRADESH 2 788 0 0 77 67600
27 UTTARAKHAND 0 0 0 0 11 3741
28 WEST BENGAL 4 585 0 0 60 21476
29 A & N ISLANDS 0 0 0 0 4 319
30 CHANDIGARH 0 0 0 0 1 1120
31 DNH & DAMAN DIU 0 0 0 0 2 170
32 DELHI 0 0 0 0 16 10026
33 JAMMU & KASHMIR 1 96 0 0 14 3629
34 LADAKH 0 0 0 0 2 155
35 LAKSHADWEEP 0 0 0 0 4 64
36 PUDUCHERRY 2 104 0 0 4 416
TOTAL 42 7573 3 1063 1330 436266
 R.S.US.Q.NO.1174 FOR 13.12.2023
Annexure-II
st
State/UT-wise types of prison inmates as on 31 December, 2022

S.No. State/UT Convicts Undertrials Detenues Others Total

1 ANDHRA PRADESH 1988 5123 134 9 7254
2 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 151 184 0 0 335
3 ASSAM 2802 8608 0 182 11592
4 BIHAR 7375 57537 1 1 64914
5 CHHATTISGARH 7631 12820 0 0 20451
6 GOA 109 572 0 0 681
7 GUJARAT 5148 11129 334 0 16611
8 HARYANA 5957 19279 235 0 25471
9 HIMACHAL PRADESH 955 1926 0 0 2881
10 JHARKHAND 4808 14786 21 0 19615
11 KARNATAKA 3556 12605 33 9 16203
12 KERALA 3034 5610 159 80 8883
13 MADHYA PRADESH 21761 26877 28 191 48857
14 MAHARASHTRA 7998 32883 189 0 41070
15 MANIPUR 177 592 86 0 855
16 MEGHALAYA 308 829 0 0 1137
17 MIZORAM 530 1049 0 1 1580
18 NAGALAND 141 302 26 0 469
19 ODISHA 2878 16058 23 3 18962
20 PUNJAB 6543 24198 0 60 30801
21 RAJASTHAN 5377 19233 6 43 24659
22 SIKKIM 119 268 0 0 387
23 TAMIL NADU 5101 11564 2129 12 18806
24 TELANGANA 2102 4221 174 0 6497
25 TRIPURA 453 735 1 5 1194
26 UTTAR PRADESH 27209 94131 172 97 121609
27 UTTARAKHAND 2136 4722 0 0 6858
28 WEST BENGAL 4682 23706 2 399 28789
29 A & N ISLANDS 85 173 0 0 258
30 CHANDIGARH 363 832 0 0 1195
31 DNH & DAMAN DIU 10 162 4 0 176
32 DELHI 1637 16759 15 86 18497
33 JAMMU & KASHMIR 180 4587 546 1 5314
34 LADAKH 4 26 0 0 30
35 LAKSHADWEEP 0 6 0 0 6
36 PUDUCHERRY 107 210 6 0 323
TOTAL 133415 434302 4324 1179 573220
 R.S.US.Q.NO.1174 FOR 13.12.2023
Annexure-III
st
State/UT-wise Available Capacity and Inmate Population as on 31 December, 2022

S.No. State/UT Available capacity Inmate Population

1 ANDHRA PRADESH 8659 7254
2 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 333 335
3 ASSAM 9564 11592
4 BIHAR 47750 64914
5 CHHATTISGARH 14143 20451
6 GOA 624 681
7 GUJARAT 14065 16611
8 HARYANA 20953 25471
9 HIMACHAL PRADESH 2528 2881
10 JHARKHAND 17671 19615
11 KARNATAKA 15589 16203
12 KERALA 8369 8883
13 MADHYA PRADESH 29715 48857
14 MAHARASHTRA 25443 41070
15 MANIPUR 1272 855
16 MEGHALAYA 680 1137
17 MIZORAM 1364 1580
18 NAGALAND 1490 469
19 ODISHA 22855 18962
20 PUNJAB 26556 30801
21 RAJASTHAN 22963 24659
22 SIKKIM 260 387
23 TAMIL NADU 24342 18806
24 TELANGANA 7997 6497
25 TRIPURA 2365 1194
26 UTTAR PRADESH 67600 121609
27 UTTARAKHAND 3741 6858
28 WEST BENGAL 21476 28789
29 A & N ISLANDS 319 258
30 CHANDIGARH 1120 1195
31 DNH & DAMAN DIU 170 176
32 DELHI 10026 18497
33 JAMMU & KASHMIR 3629 5314
34 LADAKH 155 30
35 LAKSHADWEEP 64 6
36 PUDUCHERRY 416 323
TOTAL 436266 573220

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