This report examines prison manuals, stereotypes, mental health support, wages, and technological reforms, proposing a human-rights-based approach to prison administration.

Key Issues in Indian Prisons

• Governance: There is diversity in prison governance as prisons fall in the legislative and administrative domain of the States under List II, Schedule 7 of the Constitution.
  • India follows the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, known as ‘The Nelson Mandela Rules’, which advocates the humanisation of prison institutions.
• Overcrowding: Prisons have an occupancy rate of 131.4% and 3 out of every 4 prisoners are undertrials.
  • Open prisons remain underutilised with an occupancy rate of 74%.
• Stereotypes: Many prison manuals refer to prison work related to conservancy and sanitation as ‘menial’ or ‘work of degrading character’, which perpetuates a hierarchical view of labour.
• Caste Bias: Some prison manuals continue to retain provisions assign prison work based on caste identity.
  • This has been held unconstitutional in Sukanya Shantha Case.
• Wage Disparity: Disparity ranges from Rs. 20 (much lower than lowest minimum wage) in Mizoram to Rs. 524 in Karnataka.
• Women Prisoners: Prison manuals do not explicitly provide for the right to reproductive choice and limit women prisoners to predominantly domestic tasks like cooking, denying them equal access to work.
• Ineffective legal aid: Quality of legal aid for prisoners suffers due to the lack of physical and digital infrastructure.