Cuttack: Orissa high court has ordered the directorate of prisons and correctional services, Odisha and National Informatics Centre (NIC) to provide a timeline on the development of a portal to address prison reforms.
The direction was issued on Thursday after HC was informed through an affidavit about the outcome of a meeting held on Nov 14 between top officials of the prisons directorate and NIC's Odisha state centre on the scope of applications to be developed in light of the court's direction passed on Sept 26.
The affidavit stated that a comprehensive web-based portal with AI-enabled features, including a chatbot, is essential for prisons. Adequate IT infrastructure needs to be established for the implementation of the proposed software across all jails in the state as per necessary datasets outlined by HC for incorporation in the proposed portal.
The estimated total cost for software development, implementation, support and infrastructure amounts to around Rs 2 crore in phase-I. It was therefore decided to move the govt for the allotment of funds accordingly, the affidavit said.
Taking note of it, the two-judge bench of Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Justice Savitri Ratho directed the DG (prisons) A M Prasad and NIC's Odisha state centre scientist, Malay Kumar Das "to join the court proceedings online to inform this court as to how much time it will take to implement the decision taken in the meeting on Nov 14" on the next date of hearing on Nov 28.
HC earlier directed the prisons directorate to come up with a web portal to be placed in the "public domain", subject to necessary restrictions, for effective monitoring of the condition of prisoners in the state. HC passed the direction for developing a web portal as a part of adjudication on a PIL on problems in state's jails in which senior advocate Gautam Mishra was appointed as amicus curiae.
The court wanted details of vocational training programmes in the prisons to be systematically uploaded to the proposed portal to enhance transparency and accessibility. This initiative aimed to provide an organised overview of the various training courses available for the inmates, participation rates and outcomes.
By documenting these details, prison authorities, mental health professional, and advocates can better assess the effectiveness of the programmes, identify areas for improvement and create scope for voluntary enrolment by undertrial prisoners (UTPs) in the vocational training programmes. Furthermore, the portal would serve as a valuable resource for inmates seeking to enhance their skills and prepare them for reintegration into society, ultimately fostering a more rehabilitative environment within the prison system, HC had observed.