How inmates are achieving educational reform behind bars

Despite ongoing challenges in providing legal education to prisoners the distance education programme for inmates has grown steadily In 20232024 106 prisoners graduated from their courses earning a 90day remission from their sentencesAs per data available with midday 73 prisoners completed undergraduate degrees and 33 completed postgraduate courses from Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University YCMOU and Indira Gandhi National Open University IGNOU Since 2014 over 3000 prisoners have pursued education via distance learning while incarceratedA midday report lsquoLaw education for prisoners hit a legal hurdlersquo June 26 noted that four out of five universities declined to provide legal education through distance or online mediums According to the data out of 106 male prisoners across Maharashtra 73 graduated and 33 completed postgraduate degrees in the 2023ndash2024 academic year Among them 62 graduates and two postgraduates were from YCMOU while 11 graduates and 31 postgraduates were from IGNOUNagpur Central Jail had the highest number of successful candidates with 28 graduates and 20 postgraduates followed by Central Jail in Amravati with 23 graduates and 8 postgraduatesPrison officials requesting anonymity said ldquoAs part of the reformation process the prisoners are allowed to enroll in distance education In the last ten years over 3076 prisoners have enrolled and passed out clearing their pregraduation SSC HSC examinations other than graduation and postgraduation examinations through distance mode In all 2868 male and 208 female prisoners could continue with their study while they were incarcerated between 20142023rdquo90 days remissionInterestingly in 2019 the prison department introduced a 90day remission for prisoners who cleared various levels of examinations as per an interoffice circular dated October 3 2019 This initiative aims to encourage prisoners to pursue education as part of their reformation program From 2019 to 2023 212 prisoners received this remission including four who passed SSCHSC exams 191 who completed undergraduate degrees and 17 who earned postgraduate degrees from YCMOU and IGNOUmidday contacted Sunil Ramanand the then ADGP and IG Prisons who initiated the 90day remission concept in 2019 This program continues to operate todayOn asking how he thought of such an outofthebox ideaofremission for convict prisoners Sunil Ramanand Additional Director General Wireless who was then ADGP and IG Prisons in 2019 said ldquoI had read somewhere that in Brazil a four fivedays remission was given to prisoners who would complete reading a book from first to last page And it was not possible to implement something similar in our state prisons as reading a book maybe subjective and hence I decided to come up with the idea of giving 90 days remission which was well within my power as IG Prisons with an intent to encourage convicts to continue with their education and complete their SSC HSC graduation even postgraduation and Phd in distance moderdquoSunil Ramanand additional director general wirelessWhen asked if the remission of 90 days would be given every time the convict passed out for instance if the convict cleared SSC then HSC graduation PG PhD and so on Ramanand said ldquoFor every level of clearing the examinations the 90 days remission would be added and reduced from the actual years of imprisonment And I am happy that this method of reformation at our correctional homes continues even after I movedrdquoHuman rights groups Venkatesh Nayak Director Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative CHRI New Delhi said ldquoThe Bombay HCs directive to facilitate law exams for a convicted prisoner in prison marks a significant step towards reformative justice Punishment should focus on purposeful reformation not retribution regardless of the crimes severity Skeptics should remember that incarceration doesnt extinguish all fundamental rights Denying prisoners the right to education or basic rights like adequate food water health and sanitation imposes additional punishment beyond the trial courts intentldquoThe criminal law jurisprudence in our country prevents the denudation of prisoners of fundamental rights that do not require to be curtailed in order to facilitate incarceration Any expenditure by the public exchequer for enabling the fulfilment of these other rights is a necessary cost that society must learn to accept ungrudgingly Ultimately an important measure of a civilised society is how it treats people who exhibit criminal or other kinds of deviant or socially unacceptable behaviorrdquo Nayak addedVenkatesh Nayak Director Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative CHRI New DelhiThe 2016 Model Prison Manual mandates compulsory education for illiterate young offenders and adult prisoners requiring prisons to have trained educational staff and basic facilities like classrooms and libraries It also provides for educational classes for undertrialsrdquo said Valay Singh project lead India Justice reportldquoWhile this case may be exceptional the fact remains that even though most inmates come from poor socioeconomic backgrounds prisons are unable to serve their correctional and reformative mandate whether it is providing education or vocational training In Maharashtra as of 2022 out of the over 1 lakh inmates less than 5 per cent could be provided education or vocational trainingrdquo Valay Singh addedHuman rights groups Venkatesh Nayak Director of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative CHRI New Delhi said ldquoThe Bombay HCs directive to facilitate law exams for a convicted prisoner in prison marks a significant step towards reformative justice Punishment should focus on purposeful reformation not retribution regardless of the crimes severity Sceptics should remember that incarceration doesnt extinguish all fundamental rights Denying prisoners the right to education or basic rights like adequate food water health and sanitation imposes additional punishment beyond the trial courts intentldquoThe criminal law jurisprudence in our country prevents the denudation of prisoners of fundamental rights that do not require to be curtailed in order to facilitate incarceration Any expenditure by the public exchequer for enabling the fulfilment of these other rights is a necessary cost that society must learn to accept ungrudgingly Ultimately an important measure of a civilised society is how it treats people who exhibit criminal or other kinds of deviant or socially unacceptable behaviourrdquo Nayak addedValay Singh project lead India Justice reportldquoIn 2011 the Ministry of Home Affairs advised states to establish study centers in prisons and organize workshops to promote educational programs by the National Open School Distance Education Board and IGNOU The 2016 Model Prison Manual mandates compulsory education for illiterate young offenders and adult prisoners requiring prisons to have trained educational staff and basic facilities like classrooms and libraries It also provides for educational classes for undertrialsrdquo said Valay Singh project lead India Justice reportldquoWhile this case may be exceptional the fact remains that even though most inmates come from poor socioeconomic backgrounds prisons are unable to serve their correctional and reformative mandate whether it is providing education or vocational training In Maharashtra as of 2022 out of the over 1 lakh inmates less than 5 per cent could be provided education or vocational training Valay Singh added