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RIGHTS OF PRISONERS AND RELEASE DURING A PANDEMIC (Covid-19)- BY R.SARANYA RAJENDRAN

INTRODUCTION 

The COVID -19 is one of the deadly pandemics in all probability that the country suffers and the same cannot stated to be the last. A COVID-19 outbreak in jail, first harms the men or women locked up there, innocent as well as the  guilt alike, then the officials and their families, in turn, ultimately the public. Overcrowding of prisons is a major concern even during the normal times, concern has been heightened as the novel coronavirus spread increases day by day in India. Indian prisons in the absence of foresight as well as slow mechanism of judiciary and several other reasons remain the potential hub for outbreak of covid-19. Thus it is necessary to analyse the right of prisoners during a pandemic. 
RIGHTS OF PRISONERS AND RELEASE DURING A PANDEMIC 
Though the Right to Health is not expressly a Fundamental right provided in the Constitution of India. Howsoever, by the judgement of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of PASCHIM BANGA KHET MAZDOOR SAMITY &OTHERS V. STATE OF WEST BENAL AND OTHERS, (1996) 4 SCC 37, the right to healthcare facilities forms an essential part of the right to life under ARTICLE 21 of the Indian Constitution. The question arises now is whether the right of healthcare available to a prisoner as it is to the ordinary citizen of the country. The Supreme Court in CHARLES SOBHRAJ V. THE SUPERINTENDENT, CENTRAL JAIL, NEW DELHI, AIR 1978 SC 1514, held that imprisonment does not “spell farewell to the fundamental rights”. Thus all Fundamental rights available to ordinary citizens are also applicable to prisoners with same restrictions. Along with the Indian Constitution, Section 4 of the Prisons Act, 1894 provides for the provision of sanitary accommodation facilities to prisoners. the Model Prison Manual, 2016 contemplates extensive guidelines for prisons in case of epidemics. In event of outbreak of an epidemic, the prison manual considers permanent seriation sheds for every infected prisoner, overcrowding to be avoided in isolation wards and cells and treatment of patient’s clothing and infected barracks. Despite the measures taken several states have reported positive cases of covid-19 both the prison authorities as well as the inmates. The Hon’ble SUPREME COURT on 16th, march 2020 asked the States and Union territories as to their measures to avoid the spread of covid-19 in prisons. Most states and territories showed their willingness to release certain categories of prisoners on bail and parole. The Apex court had taken suo moto cognizance of the matter as the country’s jails are overcrowded, thus making social distancing a challenge for the inmates. It directed the state government and union territories to consider granting paroles of four to six weeks to prisoners booked under offences of less serious in nature held in the case of IN RE: CONTAGION OF COVID-19 VIRUS IN PRISONS, 2020 SCC ONLINE SC 320. Following the directions of the supreme court a High-powered committee had set up to decongest prisons which according to 2018 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) were packed with 4,50,000. This High-Powered committee came up with a guidelines to release 14 categories of prisoners. Later through an order dated 11th may, 2020 they expanded the category of prisoners who could be released. After this HPC, nearly 14,000 bail applications were forwarded to trail courts. A large number of bail applications were rejected. The factors behind rejection such as case papers not available and the accused persons of Bhima Koregaon Violence case have been rejected consistently irrespective of being old and having co-morbid  conditions. The standpoint taken by courts that those who were arrested in economic, terror-related and organised crime under the Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act and under the passport act have been excluded from the grant of bail. This specifies that the categorisation was based on the seriousness of the offence committed rather than considering the age, comorbidity, pregnancy, disabilities, in short, ignoring the risk factors that the virus poses. Due to the spread of covid -19 the Tamil Nadu government has released 1,180 inmates. The primary response made by all the State Governments regarding covid 19 outbreak is in the form of reducing the number of occupants in over occupied prisons throughout the country. The problem associated with these is that there is no uniform policy to regulate it. Since there is no covid tests taken in prisons were the prisoners being released, arises the risk of releasing new vectors of the disease all across India. And this is highly possible owing two major causes firstly, the poor state of health care facilities in prisons across India. Second being the covid virus not always show early symptoms. 
CONCLUSION 
Government should take steps keeping in mind the history of implementation of policies in the country and the recommendations made by A.N.MULLA committee report of 1983, an efficient mechanism must be established in every state to keep a check over the establishment and sanitised accommodation of each prison in every state. Therefore, the prison system in the country needs a massive overhaul at its root to protect its prison population from another crisis in the future.



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