CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Thursday, December 23, 2021, asked the High-Power Committee (HPC) of the State government to weigh the options of deferring the return of prisoners granted special parole post Covid-19 in view of the grim overcrowded condition of jails.
The HPC formed in pursuance of directions of the Supreme Court on the issue of decongestion of jails includes a High Court judge who is the executive chairperson of Odisha State Legal Services Authority, Principal Secretary Home Department and Director General Prisons. In a bid to avoid the over congestion of jails amid the pandemic, the HPC had granted special parole to 747 convicts in the State.
The court was adjudicating a PIL on problems in jails of Odisha. Senior advocate Gautam Mishra was appointed as amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter. The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice AK Mohapatra said that with Covid situation undergoing a change, there is a likelihood of many of the prisoners released pursuant to the directions of HPC returning to the jails. This will further compound the problem of overcrowding in the jails.
“Therefore, the Court would like to request the HPC to consider whether, given the dire situation of overcrowding in many of the jails in Odisha, the return of prisoners post the Covid-19 phase, whenever that might happen, should be staggered or deferred till the time concrete measures to decongest the jails are undertaken”, the Bench said. The court in its order said that 48 of the 87 prisons in the State are overcrowded. While the total capacity was 19,855, the present prison population was 21,765.
The bench fixed March 8, 2022 as the next date for hearing on the matter, while directing the DG Prisons to file by then an affidavit on the measures put in place for effective reduction of the prison population including the progress in adding to the capacity of overcrowded jails.