67 per cent of prisoners in India's jails undertrials

More than 67 per cent of 4.33 lakh inmates lodged in 1,400 jails in the country are undertrials, while 1,942 children also live in the prisons along with their mothers, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) prison statistics-2016 released this week.

Out of 4,33,003 prisoners lodged in the jails as on December 31, 2016, the number of convicts, undertrial inmates and detenues were reported as 1,35,683, 2,93,058 and 3,089 respectively.

Uttar Pradesh accounts for the highest number of undertrials and convicts in jails.

The undertrial prisoners account for 67.7 per cent of the total prisoners, 31.3 per cent are convicts and 0.7 per cent are detenues. Among the total prisoners, 1,649 are woman who are lodged in jails along with 1,942 children, the NCRB report said.

The number of undertrial prisoners has increased from 2,82,879 in 2014 to 2,93,058 in 2016, having increased by 3.6 per cent during this period.

Among the 2,93,058 undertrial prisoners, the highest number were lodged in district jails (51.2 per cent -- 1,50,172 inmates) followed by central jails (34.9 per cent - 1,02,384 inmates) and sub-jails (11.3 per cent -33,260 inmates) as on December 31, 2016.

Uttar Pradesh has reported the most number of undertrial prisoners (68,432) in its jails accounting for 23.4 per cent of total number, followed by Bihar (27,753 undertrial prisoners, 9.5 per cent) and Maharashtra (22,693 undertrial prisoners, 7.7 per cent) at the end of 2016, the NCRB said.

Among the women, 400 women prisoners (with 459 children) were convicts while 1,192 women prisoners (with 1,409 children) were undertrial inmates.

According to rules, children up to six years of age are allowed to stay with their jailed mothers.

Among the total prisoners, 6,370 are foreigners, accounting for 1.5 per cent of all.

The number of convicted prisoners has increased from 1,31,517 in 2014 to 1,35,683 in 2016, a rise of 3.2 per cent during this period.

The highest number of convicted prisoners is lodged in central jails (65.5 per cent - 88,916 prisoners) out of total 1,35,683 convicts followed by district jails (27.8 per cent - 37,776 prisoners) and open jails (2.4 per cent - 3,299 prisoners) as on December 31, 2016.

Uttar Pradesh has reported the most number of convicts (26,785) in its jails accounting for 19.7 per cent of total number of convicted prisoners in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh (16,844 convicts - 12.4 per cent) and Punjab (9,931 convicts -7.3 per cent) at the end of 2016.