Rehabilitation remains in paper

Over 100 life convicts languish as TN govt sleeps over recommendation for premature release

Shanmughasundaram.j@timesgroup.com

Vellore

Even after the recommendation of the advisory board for premature release, over 100 life convicts have been languishing for more than four years behind the high walls of the central prisons in the state. The state government has put the recommendation in cold storage.

Sources in the prison department said that the recommendations for premature release were forwarded to the state government between 2009 and 2011. However, the government did not act upon the recommendations and pass any order, leaving several eligible prisoners to suffer for several years now.

The board was constituted under the provision of the Tamil Nadu Prisons Manual.  It would look into the cases of convicts and life convicts, who completed 14 years of imprisonment, for premature release.

The board comprises district collector as chairperson and district sessions judge, chief judicial magistrate, superintendent of the prison, regional probation officer and a non-official member appointed by the government as its members.

Based on the reports obtained from the probation officer, collector of the district from where the prisoner hails, the police department, and depending on the good conduct of the prisoner during his imprisonment, the board members would consider and recommend for premature release for eligible convicts.

The recommendation will be forwarded to the ADGP (Prisons) who in turn will forward it to the home department and the government for its perusal. “It was the prerogative of the government to grant premature release or not,” said an officials.   

However, the approach of the government towards the recommendations was making mockery of Tamil Nadu Prisons manual and rehabilitation of convicts. “The recommendations are gathering dust for over five years,” said a reliable source in the prison department.

The board attached to the Vellore Central Prison for Men recommended for premature release of three inmates in 2011. But, the government is yet to take decision on the recommendations, said former member of the board Beulah Immanuel.

“If the government failed to take action based on the recommendation of the board, the inmates will lose faith in the system. It is a violation and denial of the rights of the prisoner,” she added.

K R Raja, an activist and co-founder of Global Network of Equality, said, “Prolonging the premature release even after the board’s recommendation due to administrative reasons is against the natural justice of reformation and reintegration of the convict in the mainstream society. It is equal to imposing death sentence indirectly to them.”