Maha jail capacity stagnant but inmate population up 18%: CAG

The authorised capacity of prisons in Maharashtra remained stagnant from 2013-14 to 2017-18, but the population of jail inmates registered an 18 per cent growth during the period, from 27,883 to 32,810, according to a CAG report tabled in the state legislature Tuesday.

The total number of prisoners as on March 2018 was 37 per cent more than the authorised capacity of jails in the state, said the CAG report on the home department.

In nine Central Prison and Correctional Centres (CP&CC), the overcrowding of prisoners had been persistently increasing, from 125 per cent in 2013-14 to 155 per cent of capacity in 2017-18, it said.

In District Prison and Correctional Centres Class-I, the inmate population ranged between 112 per cent-129 per cent of their capacity in the period under review, the CAG said.

"Similarly, in case of District Prison and Correctional Centres Class-II, no new prisons were constructed nor any efforts were made by the department to accommodate the excess inmates which ranged between 100 per cent-113 per cent of capacity, the report said.

The number of women lodged in jails has also increased with 2017-18 posting an 18 per cent rise, it said.

In case of District Prison and Correctional Centres Class-III, the occupancy ranged between 75 per cent-118 per cent of their capacity in the 2013-14 and 2017-18 period, it said.

Out of the 102 sub-jails located in tehsil places in the state and having a capacity to accommodate 1,670 prisoners, only 54 of them were functioning, the report observed.