Jail administration needs reform to ensure dignified life of prisoners: SC

New Delhi: Jail administration needs reformation for a better environment and prison culture to ensure prisoners enjoy their right to a dignified life under the Constitution, the Supreme Court on Friday said.

Interestingly, a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan quoted Fyodor Dostoevsky’s famous lines as saying, "The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons”, and underlined the importance of treating prisoners as human beings with rights to dignity and humane conditions.

The observations came in a judgement that set aside the Jharkhand High Court verdict quashing the transfer of one Vikash Tiwary, a convicted gangster, from one prison to another in the state.

The bench restored the order of the inspector general of prisons, citing the necessity of ensuring prison safety and preventing potential gang violence.

The verdict underscored systemic deficiencies in India’s prison administration and stressed on the need for reforms to ensure a dignified life for inmates.

The top court called for a periodic monitoring of prison conditions and adherence to constitutional principles in the treatment of inmates and said while prisoners lost their liberty, they did not lose their humanity.

"His human dignity shall be maintained and all basic amenities should be made available to him. Discipline and order shall be maintained with firmness, but with no more restriction than is necessary for safe custody and well-ordered community life, with due regard to the maintenance of the rights of prisoners,” it said, adding the objective of reforms and rehabilitation of the prisoners had to be pursued diligently.

The bench asked the Jharkhand government to expedite the formulation and implementation of the jail manual in consonance with the 2016 Model Prison Manual to bring about uniformity and reforms in prison administration.

"The prison administration needs to be reformed for creating a better environment and prison culture to ensure the prisoners enjoy their right to dignified life under Article 21. It is essential to continuously monitor the physical conditions prevailing in the prison, compliance with basic and fundamental rights of the prisoners, etc.,” the judgement said.

This court has repeatedly recommended an overhaul of prison administration by suggesting reforms in treatment of prisoners and management of prisons, it said.

As far as Jharkhand was concerned, the court said there was no clear-cut picture regarding prison administration and the facilities available to the prisoners in the prisons.

Tiwary, a life-term convict and member of the "Pandey gang" was transferred from Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Central Jail in Hazaribagh to Central Jail in Dumka.

The transfer was ordered by the Jharkhand prisons authority on May 17, 2023, citing administrative grounds and the imminent threat of a gang war in Hazaribagh jail due to the presence of rival factions.

Tiwary challenged the transfer in the Jharkhand High Court, which quashed the order on August 21, 2023, deeming it unjustified.

The Jharkhand government appealed the high court's decision in the Supreme Court.

Justice Mahadevan, authoring the judgement, said the transfer was a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of inmates and maintain prison discipline.

The bench said the prison authorities were tasked with maintaining order and security within correctional facilities, and such transfers should not be treated as routine but necessary responses to extraordinary circumstances.

“The transfer was essential not only for the safety of the prisoner but also to neutralise the potential for gang-related violence within the prison,” the verdict said.

The inspector general’s duty, it outlined, was to act in the larger interest of prison security and dismissed allegations of arbitrariness in the transfer order.

The bench set aside the August 21, 2023 high court order and restored the transfer of the convict from one jail to another.