Prison Reforms
Checking, Correcting and Preventing Human Rights Violations through
Community Involvement in Prisons

Workshops

27th March 2005, Hyderabad

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative organized a workshop in Andhra Pradesh in association with the Department of Prisons and Correctional Services in AP, on Prison Visiting System (Community Intervention in Prisons) at the auditorium of Osmania University, Hyderabad, on March 27, 2005.

The basic objective of the work shop is to bring together all the individuals and organizations concerned with conditions of the prisons in AP - prison personnel, non-official visitors, official visitors from the criminal justice system, NGOs, human rights organizations and the media - together and pool their views on the standards prescribed for community participation in prisons and to evaluate the ground realities of their implementation.

Click here for the report.

6th September 2003, Jaipur

A state level workshop was held by the CHRI on Septmber 6, 2003 at HCM-Rajasthan Institute of Public Administration, JLN Marg, Jaipur with the support and co-operation of the Government of Rajasthan, State Human Rights Commission, State Legal Services Authority and the Department of Prisons. The workshop aimed on the following objectives:

• Bringing together all the agencies of the Criminal Justice System together at one forum so as to develop a culture of an integrated approach to the problems of prisons that defy solution by prison department in isolation;
• Discussing prevalent conditions of prisons with senior officers of the Department of Prisons and the controlling administrative Department of Home and Justice;
• Highlighting the need for reviving Prison Visiting System as a potential tool for prison reforms;
• Seeking cooperation and support of the government and of NGOs in this effort and
• Offering services of CHRI for a sustained program of orientation training to prison visitors for making their operation and work more fruitful and result oriented.

The workshop was attended, among other participants, by decision making authorities of the state criminal justice system and the Government. Preceding this workshop, the CHRI had conducted a study of the general conditions prevailing in prisons of Rajasthan in the context of the role of prison visitors in prison reforms. The findings of this study were discussed in details in this workshop in order to draw the attention of the government and the department on some basic issues. One of the major difficulties faced by the prison administration was the paucity of security and supervisory staff to manage essential positions.

As an impact of the workshop, within 4 months, the Government of Rajasthan has appointed 250 new warders of which 33 are lady warders. 150 warders have also been promoted to supervisory position of Head warders and all of these warders and headwarders have begun their training at the Jail Training Institute, Ajmer. In addition, 29 Assistant Jailors are in the process being recruited through the Rajasthan Public Service Commission.

Click here for the report.

7 - 8 March 2003, Jabalpur

A two day workshop was organised at Jabalpur with the active co-operation and help of the Commissioner of Division, Jabalpur and the Prisons Department of Madhya Pradesh. The objectives of this workshops were:

• to facilitate the first ever meeting between Ex-officio Visitors to prisons in the Jabalpur Division such as the District Magistrates, Sub Divisional Magistrates, Chief Medical Officers and the prison staff and non-official visitors, to resolve particular problems in prisons which fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the above mentioned official visitors;

• to advocate and facilitate the constitution of Board of Visitors to prisons in the division where Non-official Visitors have already been appointed; and

• to facilitate a discussion over model diet chart for prisoners.

Click here for the report.

7th October 2002, Bhopal

A one day workshop was organised at Bhopal in collaboration with the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission where non-official prison visitors, prison staff, representatives of the State Commission for Women, the State Human Rights Commission, the Directorate of Health Services and the State Legal Services Authority were invited. The objectives were to facilitate and understanding of each others' mandate, potential and limitations so as to encourage constructive co-ordination between all of them to speed up the process of Prison Reforms in the State. Click here for the report.

23 – 24 July 2001, Ujjain

A two day workshop was organised at Ujjain for training the non-official prison visitors to prisons in the Bhopal, Indore and Ujjain circles of Madhya Pradesh. This was the last in the series of our training workshops for non-official prison visitors in the state. Excepting a few visitors in the Bhopal circle, non-official visitors and prison officers from the rank of Assistant Jailors upto the rank of Jailors participated. Click here for the report.

8 – 9 February 2001, Jabalpur

A two day workshop was organised in the Netaji Subhash auditorium inside the Jabalpur Central Jail complex for training the non-official prison visitors to prisons in the Jabalpur, Sagar, Satna, Rewa and Narsimhapur prison circles of Madhya Pradesh. For the first time, we managed to ensure and encourage an active participation of prison officers along with the non-official prison visitors. We managed to develop further, the communication channel that was opened in the Gwalior training programme. This has been the most successful training programme in terms of the number of participants and the quality of engagement between visitors and officers. Click here for the report.

6 – 7 November 2000, Gwalior

CHRI held its first training programme for non–official prison visitors (NOVs) of 17 jails of the Gwalior prison circle of Madhya Pradesh. This was in keeping with our strategy of dividing the state - with approximately 120 jails - into smaller regions and holding training workshops in each. The broad objective, apart from information dissemination was to encourage NOVs to form their own associations that meet regularly and bond together to make improvements in the situation of prisoners; and who will eventually prompt official visitors, bar associations and other civil society groups to do more for the prison inmates. Click here for the report.

28 - 29 July 2000, Bhopal

CHRI had organised a two-day regional workshop on the prison visiting system in collaboration with the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission (MPHRC). The objectives of the workshop were:

• to discuss the findings of its study on the prison visiting system in the state

• to evaluate the effectiveness of the existing prison visiting system as a mechanism to monitor prison conditions;

• to suggest measures to improve the functioning of the system and to make it a viable institution for bringing about prison reform;

• to build up a network of institutions and individuals to pursue the implementation of programmes that would help in speeding up the process of prison reform.

The workshop deliberated on key issues relating to prison visiting - which were presented by panel speakers - and was attended by prison visitors and prison officials from all across the state, Members of the Legislative Assembly and the State Human Rights Commission and NGO groups.

25 and 26 April 1998

A two-day workshop with the theme - 'Prisons and Human Rights' was organised by CHRI on the 25 and 26 April 1998 at Bhopal, in collaboration with the MPHRC. The workshop had focused on and discussed the issues of:

• Alternatives to Prisons,

• Human Rights & Prison Administration,

• Prisoner's Rights including Women's Rights,

• Grant of Pardons & Power to suspend or commute sentences,

• The dilemma faced by prison personnel and their problems,

• Ground level difficulties in the administration of prisons and the prisoners,

• An analytical study of the various Yoga programs conducted in different jails.

Click here for the report.