Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: A new ‘Model Prisons Act 2023’ that will replace the 130-year-old pre-independence era law has been prepared by the Centre to address lacunae in the existing law and focus more on reformation and rehabilitation of inmates.
Among the salient features of the model Act are provisions of punishment for prisoners and jail staff for use of prohibited items like mobile phones etc. in jails and providing for legal aid to prisoners, provision of parole, furlough and premature release etc. to incentivise good conduct, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement on May 12.
Prisons and ‘persons detained therein’ are a State subject and the existing law in this context, the Prisons Act of 1894 is a pre-independence era Act and is almost 130 years old, it said. Two other related laws are quite old–The Prisoners Act, 1900 and The Transfer of Prisoners Act, 1950.
The home ministry found there were “several lacunae” in the existing Prisons Act and there was “conspicuous omission” of the correctional focus in the existing Act. The ministry, hence, directed the Bureau of Police Research and Development, a Union government think tank on policing subjects, to review the laws and prepare a new draft.
The model Act may serve as a “guiding document” for the states, and for adoption in their jurisdiction.
