Essay on the Important Rights of Prisoners (312 Words) !
A convict lodged in a prison is not denuded of all his fundamental rights though it is true that he does not enjoy all the fundamental rights like other persons because of the fetters imposed on him in accordance with the law.
The High Court of M.P. in S.P. Anand v. State of Madhya Pradesh} has extensively dealt with the basic rights which are available to prisoners despite curtailment of their right to liberty. For example, a prisoner must have reasonable accommodation to live a healthy life as provided under the Prison Rules.
The Supreme Court in State of Gujarat v. High Court of Gujarat, reiterated that reasonable wages should be paid to prisoners for the work/labour done while in prison and laid down guidelines for the same. The Court further held that conviction for a crime does not reduce the person into a non-person whose rights are subject to whims of prison administration.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Referring to an American case on Prisoner’s right, i.e., Procunier v. Martineg, the Court emphasised that since the liberty of a prisoner is constitutionally curtailed due to his confinement, his interest in the limited liberty left to him becomes all the more substantial.
All labour exacted from prisoners should be classified as “hard”, “medium” and “light” labour according to the physical exertion put in for performance of that work, the priority for selection of prisoners for work should be in the following order:—
(i) Prisoners undergoing life imprisonment with rigorous imprisonment;
(ii) Other prisoners undergoing rigorous imprisonment;
ADVERTISEMENTS:
(iii) Prisoners undergoing simple imprisonment who are willing to work;
(iv) Undertrial prisoners who are willingly ready to render their services may be employed if prisoners of above categories are not available. They should be paid equitable wages and not minimum wages.
The human rights of prisoners must be protected at all costs and the convicts should be entitled for reparation.