Some excerpts, depicting the state of the prison system (and overall, of the criminal justice system) in India:

...The national average prison occupancy stands at a shocking 131%, and 176 prisons operate at 200% occupancy or more. Several prisons house four times their sanctioned capacity.

Even more troubling is the composition of the prison population: 76% are undertrials — individuals who have not yet been convicted but are imprisoned due to sluggish police investigations, delayed trials, or systemic barriers to bail. In 20 states and UTs, more than 20% of undertrials have been detained between one to three years, without being found guilty.

Period of Detention: On average undertrials are spending more time than ever before in pre-trial detention. At the end of 2022, 11,448 or 2.6 per cent had spent more than five years in pretrial detention. This is considerably higher than the 5,011 in 2019 and 2,028 in 2012. Worryingly, Uttar Pradesh alone accounted for nearly 40 per cent of the undertrials who had spent more than five years in detention.

#^A System Under Strain: India's police and prisons in crisis shows Indian Justice Report 2025 | SabrangIndia



With shocking shortfalls in staffing, training, diversity, and basic human rights, the report paints a damning picture of systemic collapse — calling for urgent reform to rescue India’s crumbling justice infrastructure

#India #prisons #jails #prisoners #undertrials #justice #CriminalJustice #poverty #inequality #exploitation #police #PoliceBrutality #capitalism #feudalism
A System Under Strain: India's police and prisons in crisis shows Indian Justice Report 2025 | SabrangIndia

With shocking shortfalls in staffing, training, diversity, and basic human rights, the report paints a damning picture of systemic collapse — calling for urgent reform to rescue India’s crumbling justice infrastructure

SabrangIndia

Unlawful Activities: How the Indian prison system denies basic freedoms, rights and dignity to political prisoners

Even the UAPA prisoners under the full glare and scrutiny of the media were subject to a cavalcade of cruelties, large and small. This ranged from the denial of medical treatment, to the mental and physical cruelties of high-security prison cells, and even to being disallowed from speaking to relatives in their native language. Bhavya Dore and Sukhada Tatke write.

#UAPA #PoliticalPrisoners #undertrials #dissent #PressFreedom #activism #BK16 #TalojaCentralJail #disability #HumanRights #healthcare #BhimaKoregaonCase #maharashtra #india

https://www.thepolisproject.com/read/unlawful-activities-how-the-indian-prison-system-denies-basic-freedoms-rights-and-dignity-to-political-prisoners/

Unlawful Activities: How the Indian prison system denies basic freedoms, rights and dignity to political prisoners – The Polis Project

A Conversation With Umar Khalid That Burned Me

"This is my fourth summer in prison, but the heat this time is unbearable. I have never witnessed anything like this in my life. In fact, older inmates say they haven’t ever experienced such heat wave," Umar Khalid tells Banojyotsna Lahiri.

#UmarKhalid #incarceration #UAPA #PoliticalPrisoners #heatwave #DraconianLaws #HumanRights #undertrials #india

https://article-14.stck.me/post/297917/Field-Notes-A-Conversation-With-Umar-Khalid-That-Burned-Me

Field Notes: A Conversation With Umar Khalid That Burned Me

BANOJYOTSNA LAHIRI

Article-14

Judge quotes Varavara Rao to Q Branch in Maoist case

Unhappy with the way the investigators are dragging the case for nearly seven years, Judge Pa. U. Chemmal quoted from, ‘Captive Imagination: Letters from Prison’, by Varavara Rao, who was arrested by NIA in connection with Bhima-Koregaon violence.

https://www.dtnext.in/news/tamilnadu/judge-quotes-varavara-rao-to-q-branch-in-maoist-case-738350

#TamilNadu #QBranch #VaravaraRao #PaUChemmal #undertrials #BhimaKoregaon #BK16 #NIA #india

Judge quotes Varavara Rao to Q Branch in Maoist case

Unhappy with the way the investigators are dragging the case for nearly seven years, Judge Pa. U. Chemmal quoted from, ‘Captive Imagination: Letters from Prison’, by Varavara Rao, who was arrested...

dtnext

Detained Hundreds Of Kilometres From Home, Kashmiri Prisoners In Uttar Pradesh & Haryana Await Trial With No Access To Families

Since the revocation of Kashmir’s special status on 5 August 2019, as many as 343 persons accused in cases registered in the Union territory have been lodged in jails outside the Union territory. These include politicians, businessmen, those accused of being stone-throwers and other alleged criminals.

#kashmir #undertrials #UttarPradesh #haryana #ArmsAct #UAPA #imprisonment #HumanRights #srinagar #baramulla #militancy #article370abrogation #india

https://article-14.com/post/detained-hundreds-of-kilometres-from-home-kashmiri-prisoners-in-uttar-pradesh-haryana-await-trial-with-no-access-to-families-6498e942250a8

Detained Hundreds Of Kilometres From Home, Kashmiri Prisoners In Uttar Pradesh & Haryana Await Trial With No Access To Families — Article 14

A joint effort between lawyers, journalists, and academics, Article14 provides intensive research and reportage, data and varied perspectives on issues necessary to safeguard democracy and the rule of law.

A new book explores how defendants on terror charges cope with their grinding cases

An excerpt from ‘Terror Trials: Life and Law in Delhi’s Courts’, by Mayur R Suresh.

#BookExcerpt #MayurSuresh #TerrorTrials #undertrials #terrorism #prisons #prisoners #justice #law #UAPA #DelhiPolice #delhi #india #books #bookstodon

https://scroll.in/article/1045506/a-new-book-explores-how-defendants-on-terror-charges-cope-with-their-grinding-cases

A new book explores how defendants on terror charges cope with their grinding cases

An excerpt from ‘Terror Trials: Life and Law in Delhi’s Courts’, by Mayur R Suresh.

Scroll.in

Exclusive Excerpt: Inside The Hidden World Of Incarcerated Indians Accused Of Terrorism

For 14 months between December 2011 and March 2013, Mayur Suresh followed 18 cases of men arrested on charges of terrorism, attending trial every day, almost all in New Delhi’s Tis Hazari courts.

His experiences and their lives are laid bare in his new book, Terror Trials: Life and Law in Delhi's Courts, published by Fordham University Press and OrientBlackswan.

#delhi #UAPA #law #terrorism #undertrials #prison #POTA #justice #india #books #bookstodon #BookExcerpt #MayurSuresh

https://article-14.com/post/exclusive-excerpt-inside-the-hidden-world-of-incarcerated-indians-accused-of-terrorism-6402f567e5b08

Exclusive Excerpt: Inside The Hidden World Of Incarcerated Indians Accused Of Terrorism — Article 14

A joint effort between lawyers, journalists, and academics, Article14 provides intensive research and reportage, data and varied perspectives on issues necessary to safeguard democracy and the rule of law.

What a string of deaths in one jail says about the state of Jammu and Kashmir’s prisons

Four undertrials have died in Kupwara district jail since 2021, turning the spotlight on overcrowding, lack of healthcare in the Union territory’s prisons.

#kashmir #jammu #prisons #kupwara #undertrials #HumanRights #prisoners #law #militancy #article370abrogation #UnionGovt #india

https://scroll.in/article/1044788/what-a-string-of-deaths-in-one-jail-says-about-the-state-of-jammu-and-kashmirs-prisons

What a string of deaths in one jail says about the state of Jammu and Kashmir’s prisons

Four undertrials have died in Kupwara district jail since 2021, turning the spotlight on overcrowding, lack of healthcare in the Union territory’s prisons

Scroll.in

Siddique Kappan's interview for The Caravan:

"The Lucknow jail was full of poor people, so many of them from Kashmir, all jailed on fake cases. There were around eighteen Rohingya Muslims too, many of whom did not even have an advocate."

#SiddiqueKappan #HathrasRape #hathras #UttarPradesh #UAPA #PMLA #BJP #undertrials #law #UPpolice #kashmir #rohingya #hindutva #IndianJudiciary #PressFreedom #journalism #HumanRights #muslims #minorities #prisons #communalism #india

https://caravanmagazine.in/interview/journalist-siddique-kappan-hathras-uapa-up-police

Siddique Kappan on Hathras case, UAPA, UP Police and more

The journalist Siddique Kappan, who was arrested while going to report on the gang rape of a Dalit woman in Hathras, talks about his incarceration.

The Caravan

Lakhimpur Kheri violence: SC says an accused shouldn't be in jail for indefinite period

Worst victims in the case are those farmers languishing in jail and if Ashish Mishra is not granted anything, then they are also likely to remain in jail: says the top court.

#LakhimpurKheri #crime #AshishMishra #AjayKumarMishra #BJP #UttarPradesh #FarmersProtest #FarmLaws #SupremeCourt #Undertrials #IndianJudiciary #law #india

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/lakhimpur-kheri-violence-sc-says-an-accused-shouldnt-be-in-jail-for-indefinite-period/cid/1910844

Lakhimpur Kheri violence: SC says an accused shouldn't be in jail for indefinite period

Worst Victims In The Case Are Those Farmers Languishing In Jail And If Ashish Mishra Is Not Granted Anything, Then They Are Also Likely To Remain In Jail: Says The Top Court

Telegraph India