Data | Indian jails are overflowing, in 26 States prisoner count exceeds capacity

In 2021, the crisis was most acute in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi where the occupancy rate crossed 180%

A news report published in The Hindu on Sunday described how the Border Security Force (BSF) in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal is handing over illegal migrants with a clean record to Bangladeshi officials as prisons are overflowing in the State. If normal procedure were to be followed, these illegal migrants would have been lodged in correctional homes, the report added.

The story has put the spotlight back on the age-old problem of overcrowded prisons in India. Data show that in 2021, the latest year for which numbers are available, over 5.54 lakh people were lodged in prison, while the total capacity of Indian jails was about 4.25 lakh. This means that the occupancy rate of Indian prisons was 130%, a peak at least in the last decade.

Chart 1 shows the capacity of Indian prisons, the number of actual prisoners and the occupancy rate in the last decade. While the capacity has increased from some 3.32 lakh to 4.25 lakh in the last decade — a 27% increase — the number of prisoners has shot up from 3.7 lakh to 5.54 lakh in the same period — a 48% increase. This imbalance has caused the occupancy rate to surge from 112% to 130% in the last decade.

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The pan-India problem of overflowing jails has worsened in the last decade. However, it was most acute in three northern States/Union Territories — Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi. In these three regions, the occupancy rate crossed 180% in 2021 (180 prisoners for every 100 vacancies). Notably, in these three regions, the occupancy rate ranged between 60% and 75% in 2011. In fact, of the 36 States and UTs analysed, the occupancy rate increased in 26 of them in the past decade. And in 18 of them, the occupancy rate in 2021 was more than 100%.

Chart 2 shows the occupancy rates of select States/UTs in 2011 and 2021. The highest increase was observed in Delhi, where the occupancy rate increased from 60% to 183% — a 122% point increase. Among the major States, significant decreases were observed in Chhattisgarh and Punjab where the occupancy rate decreased by 108% points and 51% points, respectively.