Covid-19 spreads at overcrowded jails in Jammu & Kashmir: 4,572 prisoners presently lodged well beyond overall capacity of 3,426

The overcrowded prisons in Jammu and Kashmir are turning into Covid-19 epicentres with 92 inmates testing positive in two prisons of the Union Territory (UT).

J&K has 13 functional jails which include two central jails, nine district jails, one special jail and one sub-jail. As against the overall capacity of 3,426, they currently house 4,572 prisoners.

In August 2019, when the Central government revoked the special status of J&K under Article 370, the number of inmates in the prison witnessed a sudden increase. Though a good number among them were released since last year, authorities have stepped up their operations and detained several militant sympathisers while several people have also been imprisoned for anti-India ‘dissent’ on social networking sites.

The disclosure that J&K jails are overcrowded has come to fore at a time when the Supreme Court has directed the States/UTs to decongest prisons in the wake of a deadly second wave of Covid-19.

Read | Fresh Covid-19 cases dip but mortality surges in J&K

In 2020, the Supreme Court had also passed similar directions after the outbreak of Covid-19. On the Court’s directions last year, the J&K government had constituted a high-powered committee to decide about the temporary release of convicts and under-trails to decongest jails.

The panel headed by J&K High Court Judge Justice Rajesh Bindal had directed the authorities to consider release on several categories of convicts on special parole for eight weeks, extendable for another eight weeks if the lockdown by the government continues, subject to good conduct.

It had also directed the authorities to consider release of all those who had been sentenced to imprisonment for three years with or without fine and the conviction had been upheld by the Appellate Court but revision against the judgment by Appellate Court is pending before the High Court.

On the recommendations of the committee, a few hundred prisoners were released last year to decongest jails in the UT.