Kerala State Legal Services Authority a Comprehensive
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KERALA STATE LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITY A COMPREHENSIVE REPORT ON PRISONS IN KERALA 2017-2018 Acknowledgment A study on the on the physical conditions and infrastructure of the of prisons in Kerala was undertaken by the Kerala State Legal Services Authority under the guidance of the Hon’ble Executive Chairman, in coordination with the DLSAs and TLSCs with support from the judicial officers, lawyers, Para Legal Volunteers, Students, staff of court and legal services institutions, officials of government departments including the jails where the teams visited. The study could not have been possible, but for the support from Smt. R. Sreelekha IPS, DG prisons, All Chair persons and Secretary of DLSAs and TLSCs, other judicial officers, lawyers, Para Legal Volunteers, Students, Staff of legal services institutions and prisons and most importantly the inmates of various prisons. I am grateful to the support provided by them. The study revealed the present conditions of the prisons in Kerala, the short falls, developments required views of the inmates etc. The issues pointed out in the report have to be dealt with urgently through consistent and sustained effort on all fronts. K. Sathyan Member Secretary District Judge] Chapter Description Page 1. Context of Study and Methodology 1. Prisons in Kerala 2 - 6 2. Acts and Rules 7 3. Organisational Chart 7 4. Staff Strength of the Prisons 8 - 21 2. District wise Infrastructure THIRUVANANTHAPURAM 22 - 57 1. Women’s Prison and Correctional Home 22 - 25 Attakulangara 2. District Jail, Poojappura 26 - 28 3. Central Prison and Correctional Home, 29 - 37 Poojappura 4. Special Sub Jail, Kunjalummodu 38 - 39 5. Open Prison for women, Poojappura 40 - 42 6. Open Prison, Nettukaltheri 43 - 47 7. Sub Jail- Attingal 48 - 49 8. Special Sub Jail- Neyyattinkara 50 - 57 KOLLAM 58 - 63 9. District Jail Kollam 58 - 60 10. Special Sub Jail Kottarakkara 61 - 63 PATHANAMTHITTA 64 - 67 11. District Jail, Pathanamthitta 64 - 67 KeLSA Prisons in Kerala KOTTAYAM 68 - 98 12. District Jail, Kottayam 68 - 80 13. Sub Jail, Meenachil, Pala 81 - 89 14. Sub Jail, Ponkunnam 90 - 98 IDUKKI 99 - 102 15. Sub Jail, Peerumedu 99 - 100 16. Sub Jail, Devikulam 101 - 102 ALAPPUZHA 103 - 106 17. District Jail Alappuzha 103 - 104 18. Special Sub Jail Mavelikkara 105 - 106 ERNAKULAM 107 - 123 19. District Jail, Kakkanad 107 - 109 20. Borstal School/Woman’s Jail, Kakkanad 110 - 112 21. Sub Jail, Ernakulam 113 - 114 22. Observation Home for Boys, Kakkanad 115 - 116 23. Sub Jail, Mattancherry 117 - 118 24. Special Sub Jail, Aluva 119 - 120 25. Special Sub Jail, Muvattupuzha 121 - 123 THRISSUR 124 - 149 26. Central Prison and Correctional Home, Viyyur 124 - 130 27. Women Prison & Correctional Home, Viyyur 131 - 134 28. District jail, Viyyur 135 - 138 29. Special Sub Jail, Irinjalakkuda 139 - 142 30. Sub Jail, Chavakkad 143 - 145 31. Sub Jail, Viyyur 146 - 149 PALAKKAD 150 - 161 32. Special sub jail Palakkad 150 - 153 33. Special sub jail, Chittur 154 - 155 34. Sub jail Alathur 156 - 157 35. Sub Jail , Ottappalam 158 - 161 MALAPPURAM 162 - 173 36. Special Sub Jail Manjeri. 162 - 165 37. Sub Jail, Tirur 166 - 169 38. Sub Jail,Ponnani -DO- 39. Sub Jail, Perinthalmanna 170 - 173 KOZHIKODE 174 - 182 40. District Jail ,Kozhikode 174 - 176 41. Special Sub Jail, Kozhikode 177 - 179 42. Sub Jail, Vadakara 180 - 181 43. Sub Jail Koyilandi 182 WAYANAD 183 - 188 44. District Jail, Mananthavadi 183 - 185 45. Sub Jail, Vythiri 186 - 188 KANNUR 189 - 213 46. Central Prison and Correctional Home, Kannur 189 - 199 47. Women Prison and Correctional Home Kannur 200 - 203 48. District Jail, Kannur 204 49. Special Sub Jail, Kannur 205 - 207 50. Special Sub Jail, Thalassery 208 - 211 51. Sub Jail, Kannur 212 - 213 KeLSA Prisons in Kerala KASARAGOD 215 - 225 52. Open Jail, Cheemeni 215 - 218 53. District Jail, Hosdurg, 219 - 220 54. Special Sub Jail, Kasaragod 221 - 225 3. Summary of Suggestions 226 - 230 4. ANNEX 231 1. Copy of the order dt. Judgment of the Hon’ble 231 - 279 Supreme Court in WPC 406/2013. 2. Questionnaire in English 280 - 294 3. Questionnaire in Malayalam 295 - 302 4. Interim report dt. 4.12.2017 submitted to NALSA 303 on the action taken 5. Data base in excel sheet 304 - 326 Context of the study and Methodology 1. The Hon’ble Supreme Court suo motu initiated a Public Interest Litigation (WP (Civil) No.406/2013), on the basis of a letter from the former Chief Justice of India Hon’ble Mr. Justice R. C Lahoti, which highlighted the inhuman conditions in 1382 prisons in India. As per the order dated 24.3.2015 the Hon’ble Supreme Court has directed constitution of under trial review committee (UTRC) in every district of the country for the purpose the implementation of sec 436 A of Cr.PC. The committee has been constituted in every district as directed and conducting meetings regularly. 2. Subsequently the Hon’ble Court issued series of directions to various authorities to improve the situations in the prisons. Recently, by the order dated 15/09/17 the Hon’ble supreme court has directed the each of the State Legal Services Authorities to conduct a study on the physical conditions and infrastructure of the of prisons in their respective States and file report in a time bound manner. As required in the judgment this Authority has constituted a committee consisting of the following members: 1. Hon’ble Executive chairman - Chairman of the Committee 2. Advocate General of Kerala - Member 3. Director General of Prosecution - Member 4. Director General of Prisons - Member 5. Member Secretary KeLSA - Member 3. The committee met and discussed about the modalities to be followed to implement the multiple directions issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the above WPC by the order dated 15/09/18 and directed the District Authorities to constitute committee consisting of Judicial officers, Panel Lawyers, PLVs, Law Students, NGOs, MSW KeLSA Prisons in Kerala students etc. Accordingly the District Authorities have constituted committees. The committee visited the jails in the respective districts, distributed the questionnaire to the inmates to get a more convenient conversation with the inmates about the infrastructure and physical condition of the prison. The format has been translated to vernacular language so as to get a more comprehensive result through the study. 4. The officials in the jail provided all the documents asked for, conversed with the committee members conducting the study for long hours at times and also permitted the prisoners to talk to the team without the presence of prison officers. Most of the inmates have co-perated with the study and expressed their opinion freely to the committee. Visits were finally wrapped up after going around the premises and assessing the other infrastructural facilities. Prisons in Kerala 5. Imprisonment is the most common method of punishment resorted to by almost all legal systems. History stands proof to its employment in ancient times. Initially, the purpose of imprisonment was twofold; deprivation of the prisoner of social life and his segregation from the society as a security measure. In THE course of time, however, several purposes such as deterrence, incapacitation and reformation were recognized. Even if it does not have any deterrent value, imprisonment compels the prisoner to live alone away from his kith and kins, repent his past conduct and then probably change his attitude and behavior. 6. The history of jails in the State begins in the year 1861 with the establishment of the First District Jail at Kozhikode. There are 3 Central Prisons and Correctional Centres, 3 Open Prisons, 5 Women Special Jails, 10 District Jails, 32 Sub Jails and 1 Borstal School in the State functioning under the Prisons and Correctional Services Department. Sl No Name of the prison Actual Present Convicts RTs/UT Capacity Population s 1. Women’s prison and Correctional 108 47 25 22 Home, Attakulangara 2. District Jail, Poojappura 284 255 2 253 3. Central Prison and Correctional 727 1346 943 403 Home,Poojappura 4. Open Prison for Women, Poojappura 20 11 11 0 5. Special Sub Jail, Kunjalummodu 228 176 3 173 6. 270 296 296 0 Open Prison, Nettukaltheri 7. Sub Jail- Attingal 3 62 1 61 8. 108 104 3 101 Special Sub Jail- Neyyatinkara 9. District jail, pathanamthitta 45 18 4 14 10. District Jail, Kollam. 242 209 20 189 11. Spl.Sub Jail Kottarakkara 50 113 3 110 12. District Jail, Kottayam; 55 125 18 107 13. Sub Jail, Meenachil 20 33 4 29 14. Sub Jail, Ponkunnam. 48 58 7 51 KeLSA Prisons in Kerala 15. District Jail,Alappuzha 61 83 9 74 16. Spl. Sub Jail ,Mavelikkara 92 128 5 123 17. Sub Jail, Peerumedu 38 50 1 49 18. Sub Jail , Devikulam 46 17 0 17 19. District Jail Kakkanad 133 183 13 170 20. Womens Jail, Kakkanad 12 10 9 1 21. Sub Jail, Ernakulam 28 62 2 60 22. Sub Jail Mattanchery 28 26 1 25 23. Spl.Sub Jail Aluva 26 33 3 30 24. Spl.Sub Jail Muvattupuzha 72 95 3 92 25. Borstal School Thrikkakkara 90 62 2 60 26. Spl.Sub-jail, Irinjalakuda 11 67 1 66 27. Sub-jail, Chavakkadu 28 43 0 43 28. Central prison and correctional home, 560 770 610 160 Viyyur 29. Vannith prison ans correctional home , 100 40 9 31 Viyyur 30. District Jail, Viyyur 121 250 12 238 31. Sub-jail, Viyyur 84 79 1 78 32. Special Sub Jail Palakkad 32 178 2 176 33. Special Sub Jail Chittur 30 42 0 42 34. Sub Jail Ottappalam 24 52 1 51 35. Sub Jail Alathur 23 43 0 43 36.