Need to hire 400 more staff members to give phone, video call access to jail inmates: Maha govt tells HC

The Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court on Monday that prisons in the state were severely short-staffed and the state did not have the infrastructure to provide telephone and video call access to inmates.

In an affidavit filed in the HC through Maharashtra Additional Director General (Prisons) Sunil Ramanand, the state government said it will need to hire at least 400 additional staff members to even begin offering such facilities to prison inmates. The government was responding to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the People's Union of Civil Liberties, seeking immediate installation of telephones and other electronic modes of communication for the resumption of video and voice calling facilities in all prisons in the state, so that the inmates can speak with their lawyers and relatives.

The PIL said during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, prison authorities across the state had provided telephone and video conference facilities to all prisoners irrespective of the offenses they were charged with.

The state government, in its affidavit, said the above facility had been introduced as an ''exception'' between 2020 and 2021 ''purely on compassionate and humanitarian grounds'' because of the pandemic-related restrictions.

In its affidavit, the state government said it had provided for 'coin boxes' where inmates could make phone calls after depositing coins in the phone box, and added that it had also procured ''smart phones, Wi-Fi (facilities), tablets etc'' for phone and video calls.

However, now that the state had resumed 'mulaqaat', or physical meetings between inmates and their lawyers and other visitors, the above facilities had been withdrawn, it said.

The state did not have the requisite ''machinery or infrastructure'' to continue providing telephone and video conferencing facilities, the affidavit informed.

Besides, while the 'Model Prison Manual, 2016' prepared by the Union Home Ministry provides for video and phone call facilities for inmates, the manual has not yet been adopted by Maharashtra, the state government told the HC. ''The prayer of the petitioner, therefore, cannot be granted. The management of prisons in Maharashtra is governed by the 'Maharashtra Prison Manual 1979.' This manual doesn't provide for video-calling facilities for inmates to contact their lawyers or family members,'' the affidavit said.

The state said in the absence of a statutory provision for the same, such facilities cannot be claimed as a matter of right by prison inmates.

During the day's hearing, a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice SS Shinde directed the Maharashtra government's counsel, Advocate General (AG) Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, to visit some prisons in the state to take stock of facilities provided there, including access to phone calls and video-conferencing.

The HC directed the AG to submit within three weeks an independent report after his visit. During the hearing, Justice Shinde said ''Most prisons have a capacity of 600 inmates, and there are over 3,500 prisoners. So, all facilities have to be updated accordingly. The prisoners should know about the status of their matter and how many sentences have they served.'' ''After your visit, it will change your perspective,'' the bench said.

Chief Justice Datta said the state could not have correctional homes operating beyond their capacities.

The bench also said prisons must have technical experts to address issues such as access to video-conferencing facilities.

''We will keep this (matter) after three weeks. In the meantime, on Justice Shinde's request, you (AG) should visit the prison and give us your independent report,'' the HC said.

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