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Title: Need for jail reforms in the Country.
SHRI ADHIR CHOWDHURY (BERHAMPORE, WEST BENGAL): According to the penology, criminals must be sent to the jail as punishment but not for punishment. The reality in our prisons is that the prisoners are being sent to the jail for punishment and not as punishment. The philosophy of reformation and rehabilitation, as has been prescribed in the jail manual has not been materialized in reality. A number of violent incidents have taken place in various jails of our country. Through you, I would request the Ministry of Home Affairs that a model Jail Manual should be released and all the States should be directed to create a congenial atmosphere so that the behaviour of the prisoners could be modified. It has been very much implied in the current Jail Manual.
Secondly, I have observed that hundreds of life-sentence prisoners have been languishing in jail for more than 30-35 years. Some of them have… (Interruptions)
MR. DEPUTY-SPEAKER: I would now request Shri Hansraj G. Ahir to speak.
SHRI ADHIR CHOWDHURY : Still they are not getting any relief from the Government. So, both the parts of my argument, on the one hand jail reform and on the other hand long term convicted prisoners, who are languishing in the jail, must be considered.