Madhya Pradesh Prison Reforms Get Fresh Push As Bhopal Govt Forms Panel To Finalise Rules For 2024 Law, Report Due In 10 Days

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The state government has constituted a committee for vetting the draft rules under the Madhya Pradesh Sudharatmak Sevayein Evam Bandigrah Adhiniyam. The prison reform Act was passed by the state Assembly in July 2024 and received gubernatorial assent in August that year.

The committee comprising the principal secretary, jail and secretaries of finance, home and law departments will submit its report to the chief secretary within 10 days.

The new Act seeks to change the very perspective on prisons and prisoners by treating prisons as reform centres. However, the major reform is yet to come into force because the rules under the Act were still in the works.

The new law seeks to replace three legislations - two of them dating back to the colonial era. They are Prisons Act, 1894, Prisoners Act, 1900, and Transfer of Prisoners Act, 1950. Under it, jails will be known as Prisons and Correctional Institutions and the names of the headquarters and the department concerned will be changed accordingly.

It provides for use of modern technology in running the jails including court appearances through video-conferencing, e-meetings of prisoners with their family members, telemedicine, mobile deactivators and the like. It has special provisions for transgender prisoners and emphasizes establishing more open jails.

The provision of furlough is proposed to be used as an incentive for the prisoners to maintain good conduct and discipline. Under the new Act, there is a provision to ensure that legal aid is extended to prisoners.

The Act is based on Model Prison Manual 2016 introduced by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The manual moves the focus from purely punitive custody to the reformation, skill development and social reintegration of inmates.