Maharashtra Cabinet clears proposal: Kin of prisoners who die in jail to get compensation

A compensation of Rs 5 lakh will be given if the death of an inmate is caused in an accident, medical negligence, assault by jail officials or fight between prisoners. “If the jail administration’s negligence is proved in such cases, the kin of the deceased inmate will be given Rs 5 lakh as compensation. If an inmate dies by suicide, the kin of deceased will get Rs 1 lakh,” a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said.

The alleged suicide of an undertrial prisoner, accused in the sexual assault and murder of a minor girl in Kalyan East in Taloja Jail on Sunday, has once again put the spotlight on Maharashtra’s prison system, where over 70 inmates have died in the past 13 years.

The Indian Express on April 13 reported that, between 2010 and 2022, 129 prisoners in Maharashtra died from unnatural causes, of which 54 per cent or 70 were recorded as suicides. Nearly 35 per cent of these suicides took place in three years between 2020 and 2022, pointing to a trend that continues to worsen despite repeated warnings and recommendations.

In 2014, alarmed by the growing number of suicides in Indian prisons, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) commissioned a comprehensive study to examine the underlying causes of suicides in prisons.

The report — ‘Suicide in Prison: Prevention Strategy and Implication from Human Rights and Legal Points of View’ — identified two principal factors driving prison suicides: a custodial environment that fosters suicidal tendencies, and personal crises faced by inmates.

“From the inmate’s perspective, certain features of the jail environment enhance suicidal behaviour — fear of the unknown, distrust of an authoritarian system, lack of control over one’s future, isolation from family and loved ones, the stigma of incarceration, and the overall dehumanising nature of prison life,” the NHRC noted in its findings.

In response, the commission outlined a series of recommendations aimed at suicide prevention in prisons, focusing on mental health support, structural reforms, and improved inmate monitoring.

The advisory flagged the high number of unnatural deaths in Indian jails, stating that 80 per cent of these fatalities were suicides, with hanging remaining the most common method.

However, with little visible improvement over the years, the NHRC issued a fresh 11-point advisory in June 2023, acknowledging that “the incidence of suicides in prisons has not come down”.

The 2023 advisory proposed a detailed 11-point action plan. Among its key recommendations was the suggestion to increase prison staff, particularly welfare officers, psychologists, medical personnel, and probation officers. Introduction of mental health literacy training for prison staff, creation of suicide prevention units including inmates trained to provide psychological first aid, buddy systems and CCTV surveillance for high-risk prisoners, CPR and first-aid training for selected prisoners to respond to suicide attempts and strengthening family visitation systems to provide emotional support to inmates were among the other recommendations.