1102 jail inmates released on interim bail, temporary parole since prison decongestion resumed

As part of the ongoing decongestion drive in prisons across Maharashtra that resumed in the second week of May, a total of 1102 inmates — both undertrials and convicts — have been released on interim bail or temporary parole.

Amid rising cases among the inmates and increased risk of infection within the prisons during the ongoing second wave, the Pune headquartered Maharashtra Prison Department has once again started the process to release the undertrials interim bail and the convicts on emergency parole to decongest the jails as per the guidelines laid down by High Power Committee set by the government.

As per the data shared by state prison department officials, as many as 1102 inmates including 1007 undertrials and 95 convicts had been released on interim bail and emergency parole till Saturday night. The population of prison inmates across the state as on Saturday night was 33,953 of which 32,616 were lodged in main prison premises, 1302 were in 40 temporary prisons set up across the state, 32 were in the COVID care centres which have been started on the premises of temporary jails for mildly symptomatic COVID positive inmates.

Following a Supreme Court order in March last year, about COVID spread inside prisons, a High Power Committee (HPC) was constituted by the state of Maharashtra to determine the criteria for the release of inmates on interim bail and emergency parole. In accordance with the decisions of the HPC, eligible prisoners were temporarily released from time to time during the first wave and the prison population which stood at 36,060 on March 31, 2020 as against capacity of 23,260, was reduced to 26,380 by July 31, 2020. After that prison population gradually went on increasing.

Meanwhile, in a related matter, the Bombay High Court recently asked the HPC of Maharashtra to issue guidelines on interim bail or parole to decongest the prisons. The HPC — that comprises Justice AA Sayed, a Judge of the Bombay High Court, Anand Limaye, Additional Chief Secretary (Appeals and Security), Home Department  and Sunil Ramanand, Additional Director General of Police and head of state Prisons Dept — held meetings on May 7 and 11. Based on its guidelines, the release of inmates on interim bail and emergency parole has started again in the state in the second week of this month. Officials said that the various criteria as issued under the HPC guidelines last year will continue to be applicable for this year’s decongestion effort too.

Since the pandemic began last year, 44 of the 47 prison establishments in Maharashtra have reported COVID infections. The total number of cases among inmates as on Saturday night was 4049 of which 3864 have recovered, 13 have succumbed and 172 is the number of active cases. These active cases are from 25 of the prisons. Other prisons do not have active cases among the inmates as on Saturday.

If this data is to be compared to the data points in the second week of February — there were just 21 active cases among the inmates across the state when 2588 was the total number of infections, 2560 had recovered by then and the number of deaths stood at 7. In the second week of February, the active cases among the prison staff were 18, which stood at 51 as on Tuesday night. Nine prison department staffers have till now succumbed to COVID infections.