This Blog is written by Miss. Akshaya Chintala, Student of Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad.
Prisons and treatment of prisoners
in India
India is considered as the second largest populated country in the world with nearly around 1.83 billion people. With limited
resources and medical help available there exists a significant mental health
gap in implementing effective treatment of psychological disorders among the
population. Prisoners
are a minority whose mental health needs are usually neglected and access to mental health resources is much difficult if considering the vulnerable population such as the convicts
in Indian prisons. The prevalence of numerous mental illness in prisons and
jails are much higher than that compared in the community. According
to the prison analysis conducted by the National crime record bureau, India’s
prisons are overloaded with an occupancy ratio of 14% more than capacity.
States like Delhi & Chhattisgarh are among the top lists with an occupancy
ratio of more than double the capacity. Overcrowding makes the environment worse
for prisoners. One of the reasons is
that most of the inmates in the prison are those undertrials who have not yet
completed their trial proceedings. However, All convicts, have the right to be
treated humanely i.e., with respect for their dignity as human beings. Also,
conditions of confinement in prisons must adhere to international human rights
standards. If not, Mental health legislation can be a powerful tool to protect
the rights of convicts facing trouble with a mental disorder. Yet in many
countries, mental health laws are outdated and fail to address the main issue
i.e. mental health needs of the prison population. The
undertrial prisoners are denied their fundamental right which states that they
are innocent until proven guilty. When they are detained in prisons, they are
subjected to physical and psychological torture. Due to this many lose their
family and livelihoods. If the correctional institution’s staff denied care,
the inmate would have no alternatives. If you look at the bright side and want
to reform the prisoners and make them realize the futility of their actions
then one must look into the developing a better and afunctional prison system
especially by addressing their mental health issues. All persons
involved with prisons like prison officers, prison guards, and health workers
should receive training on mental health issues. Education will increase
workplace awareness of mental and psychological disorders, raise knowledge of
human rights, counterattack unethical behaviors, and promote mental health wellbeing
for inmates. By
promoting and accepting the various problems faced by those with mental
disorders, stigma and discrimination can be reduced and it would boost the
confidence of other effected prisoners to open up. In the end, approaching the
needs of the people with mental disorders would improve the probability that
upon leaving the prison they would be easily able to adjust and adapt to the
society, which may, in turn, reduce the likelihood of them committing a crime
again and end up in the prison. Approaching the mental health needs of
prisoners can reduce incidents of committing the offense again, reduce the
number of people who return to prison, divert people with mental disorders away
from prison into treatment, and ultimately decrease the high costs of prisons. Neglecting
these main issues would end up leading to long term psychological effects
such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, stress, substance abuse, and
suicidal tendencies.
Prisoners try to live their life behind bars and which keeps them away from
their families, jobs, friends, communities, and society which already puts them
in a vulnerable position and it is an extremely bad moral environment inside
these prisons for them to stay for years
at a time and many mentally-ill prisoners receive no treatment or after-care
when they are released because their treatment needs are not properly
recognized and hence it becomes extremely important for us to approach and
reform their living conditions.
Effects of prison and factors
affecting mental health
The burden of mental illness on health and productivity
throughout the world has long been unconsidered and neglected. Prison is
supposed to be a recreational center for the prisoners to rediscover themselves
and to become a better person with the effects and treatments provided within
the prison system, but in India it seems nothing other than mental torture.
Prison behavior has confirmed the prisoners to threaten someone or to be
threatened by someone which leads to an emotional as well as psychological fear. The
prisoners here are introduced to a completely new culture and prison requires
the inmates to surrender their freedom and liberties which usually is a disastrous
adjustment for people although few people cannot get adjusted with the culture
and lifestyle of the prison. Hence, they are easily prone to long term
psychological effects like post-traumatic stress disorder, social withdrawal, and isolation, low sense of self-worth
and personal value. In the long run, the prisoners become heavily
dependent on prison. It even allows the prison to influence their day to
day choices which hinders their decision-making ability. This dependency
will eventually lead the prisoners to lose their capacity to survive outside as
they no longer have the prison to be dependent on. Most prisons are dangerous as they are
confined within the four walls without an entry or an exit and due to this
nature of prisons, the prisoners themselves learn to become alert and be hyper-vigilant for signs. Prisons often
suppress their behaviors to maintain a proper social image amongst other
prisoners and no form of vulnerability
is tolerated or shown as it is a form of weakness and an opportunity to be
easily exploited.
The effects of this system of Indian prisons is terrifying as it has a huge
impact on the mental health of the prisoners. Amit.K an 18year old, who was an ex-convict from
Begusarai jail in Bihar states that he still wakes up screaming from the
nightmares he experiences. He had spent around 72 days there and was locked up
on the charges of him abducting his neighbor, the memories of police boots
crushing him and criminals threatening him haunt him till now. On May 20th
2011, DMK MP Kanimozhi from Tihar jail complained about the stench from her
attached toilet and the authorities took 4 years to get it fixed. In the
Tiruchirappalli women’s prison from 2005-2010 says that the water was scarce inmates
often had to choose between washing themselves or washing clothes. The conditions are just becoming worse.
Conclusion
Mental disorders are
overrepresented in prisoners. With reference to the above data, one can understand that
the current system in India has to undergo a lot of improvement. Prison is
supposed to be a place for the offenders to reform and realize the futility of
his actions and become a better and a law-abiding citizen of the country but in
recent times as seen, The strongest evidence is
for serious mental disorders, where surveys have estimated that around one out
of seven prisoners is diagnosed with psychosis or clinical depression. Prisons
have a very negative impact on the prisoner’s mental health and it, in turn, does
not aid in the betterment of the person.
Substance abuse is also increased in prisoners. The problems discussed
in the current prison system of India are not only unfair but also is inhumane
because the prisoners are denied basic human rights unless they have
external socio-economic factors influencing the activities that happen on the inside.
Prisoners are also subjected to psychological torture that leads on to affecting
them in the long run even when they are not confined to the four walls of the
prison.
Walmsley R, World Prison Population, 11th edn. London: Institute for
Criminal Policy Research, 2016.
Cooper H, “The All-Pervading Depression and Violence
of Prison Life” (1974) 18 International Journal of Offender Therapy and
Comparative Criminology 217.
Nagaraja
D, Suresh Bada Math, “Health as a Fundamental Right: National Mental Health
Programme initiative” In, Mental Health; Human Rights. Eds. Prof Pratima Murthy
and Prof Nagaraja D. Publishers; National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro
Sciences), Bangalore, India and National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi
(2008). Available online at http://nhrc.nic.in/Publications/Mental_Health_Care_and_Human_Rights.pdf
accessed on 19 Feb 2020.
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