In UP, a prisoner dies every 26 hours

Agra: On an average, one prisoner dies in Uttar Pradesh every 26 hours. According to the state prison department’s response to an RTI query, more than 2,050 prisoners have died in Uttar Pradesh since 2010.

Human rights activist Naresh Paras, who filled the RTI application, has witten to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), governor of UP and the PMO to take up the matter.

According to the response to the RTI query (a copy of which is with TOI), 2,062 prisoners died in a period of 74 months from January 2010 to February 2016. Out of them, more than 50% were undertrials. As many as 44 prisoners had committed suicide between 2010 and 2015. Around 24 died in police custody or allegedly got murdered.

“Age and natural causes behind the death of prisoners is just another excuse to escape the reality. The situation inside UP prisons is pathetic. There is a major lack of medical treatment for inmates and poor infrastructure at prison clinics. The state government and prison authorities have no concern for prisoners’ rights. The atmosphere inside the prisons provokes convicts to commit suicide. Protection of priso ners is the prime responsibility of prison authorities, yet murders and unnatural deaths in jails and police custody continue to take place on a frequent basis,” Paras told TOI on Sunday.

In 2010, 322 prisoners died. Out of these, half a dozen killed themselves, one died in police custody and six were murdered. In 2011, 285 prisoners died, including an undertrial from Pakistan.

There was an increase in the number of deaths in 2012, with 360 recorded, including another Pakistani undertrial. Three inmates killed themselves. In 2013, 358 prisoners died, while 345 lost their lives in 2014. This was follo wed by 345 deaths in 2015 and 53 in the first two months of 2016, reported The Times of India.

Inspector general of police (IG) GL Meena said, “Several initiatives have been taken in the past to provide better facilities to prisoners. Deaths reported due to old age and illness is quite normal and inevitable. The situation in prisons has improved in the past few years, but the number of prisoners has also increased. The state government is getting new prisons constructed. This will reduce overcrowding and help in developing better infrastructure. Efforts will be made to control the number of unnatural deaths of convicts.”