It is not for nothing that prisons are sometimes known as oubliettes: French meaning a place for the forgotten. Few know much about prisons and fewer care about the fate of prisoners. Prison conditions across the country are appalling. The prisons themselves are mostly old and decrepit, getting little money and lesser attention. According to government statistics, approximately 3.2 lakh prisoners are lodged in our jails built to accommodate 2.2 lakh. Tihar, touted as a showpiece, has 14,000 prisoners when it can hold only 8,500. In some smaller prisons, overcrowding can reach 600%.

Contrary to popular belief, our jails are not full of the wicked, serving out well-deserved sentences after a finely tuned criminal justice system has properly found them guilty of wrongdoing. Those awaiting trial make up for three quarters of prisoners: people who have not been found guilty of any offence by any court. Individuals who know little of law or procedure; who can’t find a good lawyer or mount a good — or in fact any — defence; people who simply could never afford bail or find sureties to stand up for them.

The overwhelming majority are almost always poor and caught up in the mindless and achingly slow coils of a corroded system. People like this can spend a lifetime locked away without charge or proof of guilt. Is there relief in sight? On Friday a new amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure came into effect. This allows courts to release prisoners on the promise that they will appear in court when required, without requiring them to post bail or find further sureties. The privilege is given to those who have spent more than half their possible sentences in jail while awaiting trial. It doesn’t apply to prisoners whose crimes attract a possible death sentence.

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