Speed up parole of prisoners, correctional home inmates: Madras HC – Times of India

CHENNAI: The process of temporary release of inmates of jails and correctional homes should be expedited in view of covid-19 surge, so that crowding in those places could be brought down, Madras high court has said.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, taking on record a status report filed by the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority (TNSLSA), said government should publish decisions on parameters for grant of parole or leave to inmates at correctional homes.
Earlier, TNSLSA informed the court that the situation in Tamil Nadu prisons was under control and the incidence of covid-19 cases among inmates was not alarming. TNSLSA made the submission in response to a suo motu PIL proceedings initiated by the court.
Several of the inmates, particularly undertrials, are in the process of being released on parole or leave, sometimes by relaxing the existing rules, so as to ensure less crowding in the correctional homes, TNSLSA said.
The judges, recording the submissions, said: “It is indicated that there are seven women with children in correctional homes in the state, out of them, four convicts. Steps have been taken for such persons and the accompanying children to be given leave as special cases. The same parameters as followed during the initial lockdown have been followed in this case.”
The court initiated the suo motu PIL in view of an order passed by the Supreme Court to award suitable compensation by identifying the next of kin of the prisoners who have admittedly died an unnatural death as revealed by the National Crime Research Bureau (NCRB) during the period between 2012 and 2015 and even thereafter unless adequate compensation has already been awarded.
When the plea came up for hearing on Thursday, senior advocate R Vaigai, who was appointed as amicus curiae by the court submitted that the decisions taken by the high-powered committees to decide such paroles under the aegis of the TNSLSA should be published on the government websites.