Prisons should be a place for reformation, not punishment

In the wake of Swathi murder accused Ramkumar allegedly committing suicide by ‘biting’ a live wire in the high security Central Prison, Puzhal in northwest Chennai, activists here have raised the decibel level for prison reforms to make jails a place for reformation rather than punishment.

Transparency in administration, strengthening the arrangements for counselling prisoners and better staffing of prisons will go a long way to ensure such incidents do not happen in the future, they say.

“There must be transparency in prison administration. External committees should be permitted to go on surprise checks,” stressed Sudha Ramalingam, lawyer and activist who had studied the way women’s prisons worked in Tamil Nadu.

Strengthening the mechanism to identify prisoners suffering from stress and having suicidal tendency, and having psychiatrists and psychologists to counsel them have also been emphasised by activists.

According to advocate Pugalendi, who runs the Prisoner Rights Forum, “Focus must also be on monitoring and mending remand prisoners. If some prisoners are found in distress, they must be monitored continuously and counselled.”

Saying that the alleged suicide of Ramkumar happened because of ‘gross negligence’ of prison authorities, V Kannadasan, a senior advocate, said the prison staff strength should be raised for effective work. “The staff crunch in prisons takes a toll on effective functioning and routine activities of the authorities,” he said.

Concurring with his views, Sudha Ramalingam stated that not only must the prisons be adequately staffed but also the staff had to be made accountable.