The Union Home and Cooperation Minister, Shri Amit Shah inaugurated the 6th All India Prison Duty Meet at Kankaria, Ahmedabad on September 4.
Key points
- The three-day Prison Meet was organized by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D).
- Shri Amit Shah said this meet is being organized for the second time in Gujarat and it is a matter of great coincidence that when the first prison meet was held in Gujarat, Shri Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of the State.
- The Union Home Minister said after the government came under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, a model Jail Manual was brought in 2016 in place of the old Jail Manual after a very comprehensive review.
- He said that only 11 States and Union Territories have adopted this jail manual.
- He said the Model Jail Manual contains several remedial points and emphasizes on computerization in prisons to bring about basic uniformity in Human Rights, reformed rehabilitation of prisoners and rules and regulations.
- The Jail Manual has special provisions for the rights of women prisoners along with aftercare facilities, good scientific manuals for prison inspections, rights of death row prisoners and many good provisions have also been made for staff involved in prison reforms.
- Shri Amit Shah said after the Prison Manual, the government is now going to bring the Model Jail Act as well, which will bring about necessary changes in the Act which are continuing since the British era.
- Right now, it is being discussed extensively with the States and it is believed that within the next 6 months, a Model Jail Act will be brought which will make all the jails State-of-the-Art in terms of technology.
- He requested the States that they should provide video conferencing facility with courts in every district jail.
- Shri Shah said there is also a need to make arrangements to keep those prisoners separate who are convicted for crimes of spreading propaganda of radicalization and promoting narcotics.
- He said information is also being given in the manual to control the gangs inside jails.
- While requesting the States, he said there are many States in which even today, jails built by the British remain in the same situation. Along with modernizing them, it is very important to equip them with technology, to make them apt from the point of view of security and to make arrangements for the good living of the prisoners.
- Building a library for prisoners, rehabilitate them by providing them with various types of education, taking care of their health, a good hospital in the jail itself and various programs for mental development can be started.
- He said during the British era, prisoners were mostly political prisoners, and torture could have been a means for the British to maintain their rule, but now we are free and there is need to re-evaluate attitudes towards imprisonment.
