Centre may pay for poor prisoners to help with their release

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs announced on Friday that a special scheme will be launched to provide relief to poor prisoners who have been languishing in prisons for a long time due to a lack of funds to secure their release.

As per the official release, the Ministry of Home Affairs has been taking several steps from time to time to address the issue of undertrials in prisons, including the insertion of Section 436A and a new chapter XXIA 'Plea Bargaining' in the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The ministry stated that Legal Services Authority is providing free legal aid to poor prisoners at various levels. The ministry emphasized that one of the priorities of the budget is to ensure that the benefits of the budget reach all sections of society, with one of the announcements being 'Support for Poor Prisoners,' which will provide financial support to poor prisoners who are unable to afford the penalty or the bail amount.

The ministry further added that the broad contours of the scheme have been finalized in consultation with the concerned stakeholders. The government of India will provide financial support to states under the scheme to extend relief to poor prisoners who are unable to avail of bail or get released from prison due to financial constraints.

The ministry stated that technology-driven solutions will be put in place to ensure that benefits reach poor prisoners, and reinforced the E-prisons platform will be introduced, along with strengthening of District Legal Services Authority, and sensitization and capacity building of stakeholders to ensure that quality legal aid is available to needy poor prisoners.