In New Delhi, the Supreme Court has asked state governments to provide information on how many prison staff positions are currently empty. This is important because crowded jails can make life hard for prisoners, especially when there aren’t enough staff members to take care of them.
A group of judges talked about this issue and asked all states and union territories to report how many jail jobs are open and what steps they are taking to fill these positions. They want this information in 12 weeks.
Recent reports showed that, on average, about 30% of jail staff positions are vacant. For example, a report from 2018 showed there should be 77,216 prison staff, but there were 24,588 vacancies. By 2022, the number of vacancies grew to 27,603, even though the total number of available positions increased to 91,181.
The judges noted that when jails are crowded but have too few staff members, it can create serious problems for both convicted criminals and those awaiting trial. They urged states to quickly fill these job openings to ensure better care for prisoners.
A senior lawyer, Gaurav Agarwal, has been helping the court by gathering data about jail staff vacancies. He contacted several states like Kerala, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh for this information. So far, only Bihar has replied, saying that out of 9,349 approved positions, 4,573 are currently empty—nearly half!
Agarwal also connected with an organization called the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) to understand the situation better. They found that in one jail in Nagpur, 193 out of 437 approved positions are vacant, causing issues with prison discipline and rehabilitation programs.
The judges acknowledged that while governments might struggle to fill every vacancy, it’s crucial for them to understand how many total positions there are and how many are still open across the country.
Additionally, the Supreme Court reminded states to process the release of some prisoners who qualify under a law called Section 479 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Samhita (BNSS). This law allows first-time offenders to be released after serving a third of their maximum sentence.
So far, only Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have shared information about their releases under this law. Uttar Pradesh has released about 61 prisoners, while Bihar released 28. Some states are still figuring out which of their prisoners qualify for release. In contrast, Tripura mentioned that they have no eligible undertrial prisoners.