Prison Reform Since 1947
Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Seven
Syllabus topic 6, "Imprisonment"
Pages 727 to 730 of 806
In one line
Since 1947 India has had committees, a model manual and a model Act, and the statute of 1894 is still in force.
The pattern
State it first, because it organises everything that follows.
Every post-Independence reform effort has run into the same wall. Prisons are Entry 4 of the State List, so the Central Government can recommend but cannot legislate; the Prisons Act 1894 leaves the detail to State rules under section 59; and reform therefore requires each State to act on its own. Committees report, models are published, and the statute does not change.
The committees and reports
Learn them as a sequence with a contribution each. That is what MU's question rewards.
| Body | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Dr W.C. Reckless, United Nations expert, 1951 to 1952 | Report on prison administration in India, recommending the transformation of jails into reformative institutions and the development of a Model Prison Manual |
| All India Jail Manual Committee, 1957 to 1959 | Prepared the first Model Prison Manual, for the States to adopt |
| Working Group on Prisons, 1972 to 1973 | Recommended a national policy on prisons and the training of prison personnel |
| All India Committee on Jail Reforms, 1980 to 1983, chaired by Justice A.N. Mulla | The most comprehensive: recommended a National Policy on Prisons, a national prison statute, the total ban on the use of prisoners in prison administration, classification, the setting up of a National Prison Commission, and improvements in staff conditions and training |
| National Expert Committee on Women Prisoners, 1986 to 1987, chaired by Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer | Recommendations on women in custody, including women staff, separate institutions, and provision for children of women prisoners |
| Model Prison Manual, published and later revised under the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Bureau of Police Research and Development | A recommended manual for the States to adopt into their rules |
| Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act 2023 | A model statute circulated to the States to replace the Acts of 1894, 1900 and 1950 |
Note the two names to remember: Mulla for jail reforms generally and Krishna Iyer for women prisoners. Those are the two an examiner expects.
What actually changed
Be fair: not nothing. Four real changes.
Constitutionalisation. From 1950 the whole system operates subject to Part III, and from 1978 the courts have enforced that. The rights in this module are a post-Independence development and the most important one.
Amendments by States. Several States amended section 46 of the Prisons Act to remove or replace punishments: Assam removed whipping and substituted forfeiture of class or grade and reduction in grade; Maharashtra and Orissa added a furlough system to the definition in section 3 and to the loss-of-privileges punishment in section 46(4).
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