The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Friday that it would provide States with financial support to help underprivileged prisoners who are unable to get bail or secure release from prisons due to financial hardship.
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In line with one of the announcements of the Union Budget, ‘Support for Poor Prisoners’, the scheme envisages “financial support to poor persons who are in prisons and unable to afford the penalty or the bail amount”.
The MHA said the scheme will enable underprivileged prisoners, majority of whom belong to socially disadvantaged or marginalised groups with lower education and income levels, to get out of prison.
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The broad contours of the scheme have been finalised in consultation with concerned stakeholders. “To further strengthen the process, technology-driven solutions will be put in place to ensure that benefits reach the poor prisoners; reinforcing the E-prisons platform; strengthening of District Legal Services Authority and sensitisation and capacity building of stakeholders to ensure that quality legal aid is made available to needy poor prisoners, etc,” the Ministry said.
It said that prisons are an important part of the criminal justice system, and play a significant role in upholding the rule of law. MHA has been sharing important guidelines with State governments through various advisories issued from time to time and providing financial support to the State governments for enhancing and modernising the security infrastructure in prisons.
According to Prisons Statistics of India Report, 2021, over 5.54 lakh people were lodged in prison and the total capacity of Indian jails was about 4.25 lakh, an occupancy rate of 130%.