“Prison” means any jail or place used permanently or temporarily under the general or special orders of the state government for the detention of prisoners and includes all lands and buildings appurtenant thereto, but does not include any place for the confinement of prisoners who are exclusively in the custody of the police or any place declared to be a subsidiary jail. People believe that prisoners are sent to prison as punishment and not for punishment. This simply proves that loss of an individual’s right to liberty Is enforced by Containment in a closed environment. This says that keeping a person locked up should not have a bad influence on him. But this is happening to most of the prisoners worldwide. Let’s talk about what and how an healthy environment can be provided to them. Even the prisons have rights to health care. Prison jurisprudence recognises that a prison should not loose all of his rights just because he is imprisonment. There is a loss of custodial rights. Public health policies are meant to ensure the best possible living conditions for all the prisoners so that everyone can be healthy. They are in constant contact of people who come in the prison.

There are about 1276 prisons in the country with an authorized accommodation of 2,77,304; however, the total number of jail inmates is nearing 4 lacs indicating severe overcrowding in prisons.
There are problems of drug abuse, alcoholism, trauma, homicide, suicide, violence, neuropsychiatric diseases, epilepsy, stress manifestations, HIV infection and AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, skin infections, and so on. In the walls of the jails, the lack of adequate health facilities amounts to society inflicting punishment twice, once by incarceration and a second time by illness.
Majority of prisoners in India are uneducated, poor, belonging to marginalized section of the society who has limited knowledge about their health and lifestyle practices. As a result, they constitute a distinct and vulnerable health population that requires special privileges. In the landmark case of Parmanand Katara Vs Union of India (1989 AIR 2039), the Supreme Court held that the state has a duty to maintain life regardless of whether the individual is innocent or guilty of a crime, setting a strong precedent for prisoners’ rights in India, particularly the
fundamental right to health guaranteed by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”
–Nelson Mandela

As there is an increase in number of prisoners and morbidities among them, there is an urgent need for prison health care services in developing countries like India and provide training to the health care providers to manage the commonly existing health problems among prisoners in the prisons. Hope that situation gets better in the near future as prisoners still has protection of life and personal liberty provided in Article 21 of our Indian Constitution.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.

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If you would also like to contribute to my website, then do share your articles or poems at adv.aishwaryasandeep@gmail.com

We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.

We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge