MADURAI: A prisoner cannot be denied access to minimal facilities required to deal with their physical condition which hampers their daily life, such as using an Indian toilet or sleeping on the floor, said the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. In such cases, it is the duty of the prison authorities to make such facilities available.
The court was hearing a petition filed by R Ramalingam seeking directions to grant ‘A’ classification to his son Ravi, who is serving a life sentence at the Palaymkottai Central Prison, as he suffers from central neurological issues. He will be given a cot facility and will be permitted to use a western toilet only if he is placed under ‘A’ classification, the petitioner added.
A division bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and R Poornima said it is not open to the prison head to tell the prisoner that since he does not fulfil the rule requirement, he will not get ‘A’ class facility. The court held that it is the prisoner’s physical/medical condition that will be the governing criteria. The concept of prison justice cannot be confined within a rigid framework and its boundaries have to expand.