{"id":19136,"date":"2023-05-30T16:05:51","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T10:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?p=19136"},"modified":"2023-06-26T06:11:46","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T00:41:46","slug":"model-prisons-act-2023-2","status":"publish","type":"current-affairs","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/model-prisons-act-2023-2","title":{"rendered":"Model Prisons Act, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Context:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced that it has finalised the preparation of the Model Prisons Act, 2023, to replace the existing <\/span><b>130-year-old colonial law<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in an attempt to shift the focus of incarceration from <\/span><b>\u201cretributive deterrence\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to <\/span><b>\u201creform and rehabilitation\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Purpose of the Act:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To provide guidance and address gaps in the existing prison laws<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To bring in the use of technology in prison management<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To make provisions for the grant of parole, furlough, and remission<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To introduce special provisions for women and transgender inmates<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>New perspective on prisons and prison inmates:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pre-Independence <\/span><b>Prisons Act, 1894<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, focused on keeping criminals in custody and enforcing discipline and order in prisons, leaving no provision for reform and rehabilitation of prisoners.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Ministry said that prisons are not seen as \u201cplaces of retributive deterrence\u201d today but instead as <\/span><b>reformative and correctional institutions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> where prisoners transform and rehabilitate back into society as law-abiding citizens.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>New provisions being proposed:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Parole, furlough: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Model Prisons Act seeks to create provisions for the grant of parole, furlough, and remission to prisoners to encourage good conduct.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Alignment<\/b> <b>with human rights<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: It aims to provide separate accommodation for women and transgender inmates, ensure the physical and mental well-being of prisoners, and focus on the reformation and rehabilitation of inmates.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Reintegration into society: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The new Act also intends to bring about \u201cattitudinal change towards prisoners\u201d and initiate vocational training and skill development for prisoners.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Transparency in prison management<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: It includes<\/span>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Provisions for security assessment and segregation of prisoners<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Individual sentence planning<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Grievance redressal<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prison development board<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use of technology in prison administration<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Integration<\/b> <b>with other Acts<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Along with the Prisons Act, 1894, the Prisoners Act, 1900, and the Transfer of Prisoners Act, 1950\u2019 have also been reviewed by the MHA, and their relevant provisions have been assimilated into the Model Prisons Act, 2023.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Provisions for establishing <\/span><b>high-security jails and open, semi-open jails<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have also been inserted.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New measures for prisoners to <\/span><b>video conference with courts<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have also been introduced.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Is the Model Prisons Act, 2023, binding on states?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Constitutional provisions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0<\/span>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>&#8216;Prisons&#8217; and &#8216;persons detained therein\u2019<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> fall under the <\/span><b>State<\/b> <b>List<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means that the responsibility of prison management and administration solely vests with the state government, which alone is competent to make appropriate legislative provisions in this regard.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><b>View of MHA: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The MHA stated that owing to the critical role played by efficient prison management in the criminal justice system, the Centre finds it crucial to support the States and UTs in this regard.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/model-prisons-act-mha-8630225\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">News Source: Indian Express <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context:\u00a0 The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced that it has finalised the preparation of the Model Prisons Act, 2023, to replace the existing 130-year-old colonial law in an attempt to shift the focus of incarceration from \u201cretributive deterrence\u201d to \u201creform and rehabilitation\u201d. Purpose of the Act: To provide guidance and address gaps in the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/model-prisons-act-2023-2\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Model Prisons Act, 2023<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[1330,1331],"paper-wise":[],"subject":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/19136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/current-affairs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/19136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19136"},{"taxonomy":"paper-wise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper-wise?post=19136"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=19136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}