UP's jam-packed jails hold 60% more prisoners than capacity

Total number of inmates stands at 92,830, while jails have a capacity to house 58,111 persons

Jails in Uttar Pradesh remain overpopulated with convicted and under-trial prisoners, as the number of people behind bars exceeds the total capacity by 60 per cent.     

At present, there are around 70 jails in the state with a total housing capacity of 58,111 persons. Of this, the capacity for male inmates stands at 51,839. The state's prisons can also hold up to 2,956 women inmates and 3,316 juvenile prisoners.   

However, the total number of inmates currently stands at 92,830, including 471 children and 364 foreigners.

As on April 30, jails in UP were housing 25,975 males, 1,079 females, 83 juveniles and 137 foreigners convicted of committing various criminal offences. Female convicts had 67 children living with them.

As far as the number of under-trial prsioners is concerned, there were 59,507 males, 2,706 females, 3,001 juveniles, 227 foreigners and 115 others. Meanwhile, around 404 children were housed with undertrials.

Number of undertrial prisoners were over 50 per cent higher than that of convicted prisoners.

The issue of overpopulation surfaced after an Right to Information (RTI) query was filed by Nutan Thakur- a Lucknow-based RTI activist. Details were subsequently provided by Akhtar Riaz, additional inspector general (administration) of prisons in Uttar Pradesh, while replying to the RTI application.

“Overpacking in UP jails along with the presence of a large number of undertrials is truly worrisome and needs to be immediately attended to,” Thakur observed.

The state currently has five central jails located in Allahabad, Varanasi, Fatehabad, Bareilly and Agra. Apart from this, there are three special jails in Lucknow and Bareilly.