Orissa High Court Orders Govt To Provide More Ambulances To Jails; Directs DLSA Secretaries To Undertake Unannounced Jail Visits

The Court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning over-crowding of jails around the State. An affidavit was filed by the Department of Prisons which indicated that in Jajpur sub-jail, the extent of overcrowding has been reduced from 77% to 48% as of February 22, 2023 with the shifting of some of the prisoners to the nearby jails.

The Court also noted that there have been reductions of overcrowding percentage in most sub-jails except the sub-jail, Malkangiri where it has gone up from 37% to 45%. The Director General (DG) of Prisons, who was present through virtual mode, stated that the above over-crowding was due to construction of the boundary wall, which is expected to be completed by the end of April, 2023 and the percentage will accordingly go down.

As far mental health of prisoners is concerned, the DG informed the Court that advertisement will be issued very soon for filling up of the posts of Psychiatric Social Workers (PSWs) and Clinical Psychologists.

The Court was also shown the statistics of the visits made by Doctors, Psychiatrists and Psychologists in the months of January and February, 2023 to the various jails and sub-jails as well as the services provided under the scheme of “Tele Manas” and “e-Sanjeevani”.

As regards provision of ambulance for prisons, the Court was told that this was discussed in the meeting of the Prison Development Board (PDB) Committee held on March 3, 2023 where it was decided that apart from the ambulance services available on dialling ‘108’, ambulances available with the nearest Community Health Centres (CHC) will be shared on priority basis with the concerned jails for shifting of prisoners in need of emergency health care.

The Court was informed that the 20 ambulances previously provided by the Government have already been allocated to the most crowded jails and sub-jails. Thus, it directed:

“Considering that there are 87 jails and sub-jails in Odisha, a direction is issued to the Home Department to ensure that at least 10 more ambulances are provided to the Prisons Department for use in the jails and sub-jails. This must be done by the end of May, 2023.”

Further, the amicus curiae highlighted the reports received from two DLSAs, i.e., Khurda and Angul. The report of the DLSA, Khurda referred to an application concerning the pre-mature release of one convict which has been pending since July 23, 2021.

The Court directed the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department to examine the application and to take a decision thereon. He was also directed to convey the decision to the jail authority concerned as well as the convict in question not later than May 31, 2023.

The report of the DLSA, Angul referred to the complaint of one prisoner alleging that he has been assaulted and tortured by another convict and certain UTPs in the Special sub-jail, Talcher. The Court asked the DG, Prisons to examine the issue and to take corrective action within a week.

As regards the allocation of corpus fund of the PDB as well as funds for Prison Modernization, the DG conveyed the Court that provision has been made in the Annual Budget for 2023-24 and it is expected that the funds will be released soon.

The Court was also informed that the proposal for restructuring of the prisons is under active consideration of the Government. Thus, a direction was issued to the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department to place before the Court by the next date the decision of the Government thereon.

Lastly, all the Secretaries of the DLSAs were directed by the Court to undertake unannounced visits within the next two months to the respective jails and sub-jails in their jurisdiction and submit reports to the Court before May 31, 2023.

Case Title: Krushna Prasad Sahoo v. State of Odisha & Ors.

Case No.: W.P.(C) No. 6610 of 2006