Maharashtra: Prison department to extend pay phone facility to death row inmates

Death row inmates are lodged in the nine central prisons in the state and kept in high-security cells. Once their death sentences are confirmed — after exhausting SC appeals, review petitions and rejection of mercy plea by the President — the convicts are lodged at either the Yerawda Central Prison in Pune or Nagpur Central Prison.

The outgoing head of state Prison Department Bhushankumar Upadhyay, who has been transferred as police commissioner of Nagpur, said, “It was brought to our notice that pay phone facility was not given to death row inmates, who have the same rights as any other inmates. So, this is like a corrective step to the already existing system. We hope to make the lives of death row inmates more bearable.”

The facility will be applicable to about 50 inmates, but the final decision to provide it will rest with the respective jail superintendents. “The facility will be extended to inmates, except those convicted for terrorism, bomb blasts, treason, Naxalism, gangwars, syndicated crimes and those with a record of indisciplined behaviour. While providing such a facility, it should be ensured that adequate security measures are in place. And if taking these prisoners out of the barracks is not appropriate from a security point of view, pay phones should be installed near the high-security cells,” stated the order.

Lawyer Yug Mohit Chaudhry, who has represented several death row inmates in cases, said, “Providing a phone facility is a positive step and I welcome it. We also need to look at the condition of death row inmates. They spend their days thinking about their appeal. I have written to jail authorities several times, asking them to provide facilities such as reading material and facilities like radio. But nothing has been done on that front. There is scope to do a lot more.”