Prison tag: On a viable means of decongesting prisons

The suggestion for the introduction of electronic tracking of prisoners granted parole or furlough may merit consideration as a viable means of decongesting prisons. The idea of having a pilot programme to make undertrials who pose low or moderate risk wear devices that will track and restrict their movements has been mooted in a research report of the Supreme Court of India’s Centre for Research and Planning. This is not the first time the use of electronic tracking has been considered, though. The Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023, contains a provision that says “prisoners may be granted prison leave on the condition of their willingness to wear electronic tracking devices” so that their movement and activities may be monitored. It speaks of cancelling the leave in case of any violation. The study points out that Odisha was the first State to propose the use of tamper-proof electronic trackers on undertrials accused of non-heinous offences to reduce congestion in jails. Such a measure would extend the concept to grant of bail. However, it also points out correctly that there are no guidelines or minimum standards for when and how the technology can be deployed without violating the prisoners’ rights. The use of technology for tracking the movement of those allowed to leave prison on some conditions does raise such concerns.

The Court, earlier this year, disapproved of imposing bail conditions that would infringe their right to privacy of the accused. The context in that case was a bail condition that the accused should pin his location on Google Maps and share it with the investigating officer. However, it ought not to mean that electronic tagging should be rejected out of hand. A Parliamentary Standing Committee had approved of cost-effective devices being used with the consent of the accused, citing the possible gains of avoiding rights violation, reducing administrative costs and decongesting prisons. Rising occupancy in prisons has been a matter of concern in the last few years. Official statistics put the number of prisoners in the country’s jails at 5,73,220 on December 31, 2022, amounting to 131.4% of the total capacity. Therefore, any move that will reduce the occupancy, including the use of tracking technology, ought to be a welcome measure. Several jurisdictions in the world deploy devices to track the movement of certain categories of offenders. It would be logical to use them to ensure that prisoners released recently do not approach their victims again or enter locations associated with their crimes. If the trackers were to be compact in terms of size and visibility, it could also make the beneficiaries of bail shed their reluctance to wear them for fear of stigmatisation.