The Supreme Court has directed states and Union Territories that lack open correctional institutions to unclog heavily overcrowded conventional prisons within three months.

The court also deplored several states, including Bengal, which do not extend the benefits of open correctional institutions to women prisoners, a violation of constitutional provisions under Article 14 (right to equality) and 15 (prohibition against discrimination).

“Each state and Union Territory, through its prisons and correctional services department, shall undertake a comprehensive assessment of its prison infrastructure within a period of three months from the date of this judgment to identify locations suitable for the establishment of new OCIs…,” the apex court said.

Unlike formal jails, where prisoners stay behind bars, in open correctional institutions (OCIs), prisoners are kept in open spaces such as agricultural fields and open barracks. They are even allowed to stay with their families and carry out their work, but have to return to the prison by night. Prison authorities closely monitor their activities.

Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jharkhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim have no OCIs. Union Territories, barring Delhi, lack the facility.

“The data overwhelmingly indicate that the representation of women in OCIs is substantially lower than that of men, reflecting either the absence of facilities for women or their exclusion from eligibility for transfer. Assam, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal have expressly stated that women prisoners are not eligible for transfer to OCIs,” a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said in a recent judgment.

The bench added: “In the National Capital Territory of Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, although women are stated to be eligible for transfer to OCIs, the quantitative data reveal that no women have been transferred.

“The material placed before this court reveals a deeply troubling pattern of exclusion of women prisoners from access to OCIs. Even in states and Union Territories where women are stated to be eligible, such as the NCT of Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the quantitative data show that no women have, in fact, been transferred to OCIs.

“Thus, the exclusion of women from OCIs, or failure to transfer them despite being eligible for transfer from closed prisons to OCIs, amounts to blatant gender discrimination, violative of Articles 14 and 15(1) of the Constitution, and also infringes upon their right to live with dignity as guaranteed under Article 21 (life and personal liberty,” Justice Mehta said.

The court passed the judgment while dealing with a PIL highlighting the inhuman conditions in overcrowded prisons despite the apex court passing several directives for improving the lives of inmates.

The bench said Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Jharkhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Telangana, which do not have any functioning OCIs, shall assess the feasibility and necessity for establishing OCIs within their respective jurisdictions. They will have to develop a time-bound protocol for filling up vacancies in OCIs and open barracks.

All states and Union Territories shall, in addition to optimally utilising existing OCIs, take proactive and time-bound steps to expand open correctional infrastructure by establishing new OCIs and creating open and semi-open barracks within existing closed prisons, wherever feasible, the court said.