Funds allotted for poor prisoners remain unused: MHA 

Union government expresses concern over poor prisoners not receiving relief funds due to lack of implementation by States/UTs.

The Union government has expressed concern over States/Union Territories not utilising funds allocated for providing relief to poor prisoners who are unable to get bail or release from prison due to financial constraints.

In an advisory sent to Home Secretaries/Heads of Prisons, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that during several video conferences held with the States/UTs it had consistently emphasised on the importance of the scheme, highlighting its potential to bring relief to poor prisoners who remained incarcerated due to financial problems.

Funds were made available with the Central Nodal Agency for the authorities to drawn money for providing benefit to eligible prisoners. 

“However, despite repeated follow-up, funds have remained un utilised as many States/UTs have not identified eligible prisoners and have not provided the benefit of the scheme to them,” the MHA said. 

While a few States/UTs had  utilised the funds, the overall implementation of the scheme was not very encouraging.

The ‘Support to Poor Prisoners’ Scheme’ was introduced in May, 2023, and detailed guidelines and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the implementation of the programme were issued.

As part of the guidelines, States/UTs were told to constitute an ‘Empowered Committee’ in each district of the State and an ‘Oversight Committee’ at the State headquarter level. These committees were responsible for sanctioning financial aid to eligible prisoners.