Lodge undertrials in separate detention centres, don’t call it jail: Parliamentary panel

New Delhi: Undertrials should not be lodged in prisons along with hardened criminals but in separate detention centres to prevent them from becoming hardened criminals, and these centres should not be called jails, a Parliamentary committee has told the Ministry of Home Ministry (MHA).

The recommendation is part of the report on Demands for Grants (2025-26) of the MHA tabled by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs headed by senior BJP MP Radha Mohan Das Agrawal earlier this week.

Around 75 per cent of prisoners in the country are undertrials, which indicates that their “cases are pending for a long time”. The panel said that it was seen in many cases that these undertrials are acquitted after remaining in jail for a long time.

The committee said the rules and regulations applicable to undertrials in jails are more or less similar to those of hardened convicted criminals.

“The jails are becoming a nursery and training centre for committing heinous crimes due to the intermingling of hardened criminals with undertrials, who are in jail for less heinous crimes or petty offences. This is mainly due to the fact that the undertrials and heinous criminals are housed in the same jail,” it said.

Emphasising that undertrials who are acquitted by the courts have to live with the stigma that they were in jail, the committee recommended that there may be “separate centres of detention” for undertrials.

“It should not be referred to as jails, instead they may be called correction centres or detention centres. Jails should be used only to accommodate the hardened convicted criminals. This may go a long way in preventing undertrials from becoming hardened criminals, providing more scope for reforming undertrials and escaping the stigma of jailed prisoners,” it said.

The MHA told the panel that undertrials and convicted prisoners are to be kept separately as Model Prison Manual, 2016 and the Model Prisons and Correctional Services, Act. As per regulations, the Ministry said, high-risk prisoners are to be housed in high-security prisons to prevent their “negative influence on others.

However, it told the panel, the implementation of these provisions is the responsibility of the state governments, as prison is a state subject as per the Constitution.

The MHA also told the panel that the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 provides provisions for the release of undertrials who have served half of their maximum sentence or one-third in the case of first-time offenders.

On November 26 last year, the MHA had launched a special campaign to ensure the effective implementation of the provisions, which led to the filing of 933 bail applications and the release of 336 eligible prisoners.

With the MHA asking states and union territories to continue with the initiative and submit monthly reports, the committee recommended continuous monitoring and collaboration with states to ensure the timely release of eligible undertrials