In 2023, the Government of India circulated the “The Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023” to States/UT’s as guidance towards revision of existing state laws on prisons in States/UT’s (as “Prisons” are legislated upon by the States and not the Union). The purpose of the Model Act is stated to be for the “safe custody, correction, reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners as law abiding citizens, and management of prisons and correctional services”. “Prisoner” is defined to be a “person committed to custody in a prison under the writ, warrant, order or sentence of a Court or a competent authority and includes convicted prisoner, civil prisoner, undertrial prisoner, prisoner remanded by a court to prison custody under the orders of a competent authority and a detenue”. Importantly, NCRB statistics (2022) across 36 States/UT’s detail 1330 prisons with 5,73,220 prisoners (as against a sanctioned capacity of 4,36,266) with 75.8% undertrial prisoners.

The prison system is known to be overcrowded and unhygienic, with violence, discrimination and corruption. It is recognized to be a place of punishment (with severe social and economic costs to the prisoners and their families and friends) contrary to its stated objective – safe custody of the undertrial and reformation for the convict.

Independent fact-finding reports (including by PUDR), first person prisoner accounts, journalistic work, and court documents reveal only a part of the experiences of prison inmates and their families. How do issues of class, caste, religion, gender, sexual identity and political ideology translate in the prison system? What is the experience of the prison inmate with the legal system and its various constituents including lawyers and the judiciary? How do different states (with their own jail manuals and practices) treat prisoners? How do different prisons across states treat prisoners?

PUDR’s “Prison Project” is a continuation of its work on prisons and prisoner rights, and the present focus on prisoner experiences has been undertaken to foreground the urgent need for transparency, public awareness, intervention and accountability. Through testimonies of ex-prisoners and other information, the project sheds light on the concealed everyday aspects of prison life, information that is extremely difficult to access. Further, by juxtaposing prisoners’ experiences with reports on institutional mechanisms, laws, court judgments, and state actions meant for prisoners’ redress, the project draws attention to the gap between stated objectives and actual nature of the dehumanizing aspects of daily prison life. Most importantly, by attending to prisoners’ accounts of struggle and survival, the project emphasises that prisons can be best understood through the people who have lived there.