Second highest number of foreigners in Delhi jails

In 2020, Delhi's three jail complexes – Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini -- housed the second-highest number of foreign prisoners across the country, next only to West Bengal, according to the recently released National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report on prisons in India.

Delhi's prisons housed 482 foreign prisoners, while West Bengal's housed 1,982 such prisoners during the year, the data shows. While most foreign prisoners in West Bengal comprised men and women from Bangladesh, the prisoners in Delhi jails were a mix of different nationalities.

Prison officers said that compared to previous years, the number of prisoners was lower, attributing this to the pandemic-related restrictions, including the sealing of international borders to curb the spread of Covid-19. According to data, in 2019, Delhi was fourth on the list with 487 foreign prisoners while West Bengal was still on the top with 2,316 such prisoners.

According to prison officers, of the 482 foreign prisoners jailed in Delhi in 2020, most were from Nigeria (204), Nepal (51), Bangladesh (23), and Pakistan (17). In West Bengal, of the 1,982 prisoners, at least 1,592 were from Bangladesh.

Delhi's Tihar jail officers said that some of prisoners held protests during the height of the pandemic in 2020 -- when the infection started spreading rapidly in the Capital, most of them wrote to prison authoritiesand held protests requesting to be deported.

"In April, 2020, owing to the increase in cases, a high-powered committee was formed to release prisoners to avoid crowding inside jails. But foreigners were not included in the category of prisoners who could be released. Also, prisoners involved in financial fraud or terror-related cases were not considered. Most Nigerian nationals arrested in cheating cases formed a large bulk of foreigner prisoners, so they were not considered. This led to protests inside the jails in 2020," said a prison officer, who asked not to be named.

On June 16, 2020, a group of women prisoners broke the locks of a jail inside the Tihar complex and went on a rampage, demanding that they too should be considered for interim release by the high-powered committee. However, their demands were not considered.

The NCRB report also shows that in 2020, Delhi prisons reported 20 unnatural deaths among a population of 15,995, after Uttar Pradesh (33 deaths among a population of 107,395) and West Bengal (22 deaths among a population of 25,863). In 2019, Delhi prisons had reported fewer unnatural deaths--11 among a population of 17,534. Delhi's jails were less populated in 2020 because a few thousand prisoners were released on parole and interim bail to avoid overcrowding during the pandemic.

To be sure, the 20 natural deaths include the deaths by execution of the four men who were hanged on March 20, 2020, after their conviction in the 2012 Delhi gang rape case. Ten of the remaining 16 prisoners died by suicide, prison officers said. In 2019, Delhi prisons saw 8 prisoners died by suicide.

The count of unnatural deaths in Delhi is significant because it was reported from 16 sub-jails within the Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini complexes – all in the jurisdiction of the Capital. Whereas, the data for Uttar Pradesh was collected from 73 sub-jails and the data for West Bengal was collected from 60 sub-jails. The sub-jails in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are spread across different towns and cities.

Advocate Ajay Verma, former convener of the National Forum for Prison Reforms, a body that works to reform prisoners, said the number of depressed prisoners (because of the pandemic) in the last two years has increased, and that could lead to a higher number of suicides.

"During the pandemic, visits by family members were halted. This led to an increase in cases of depression. However, most cases remain undetected because prisons in India do not have the resources to focus on mental health or invest in counsellors. Although, we do have a mental health ward in Tihar -- Delhi prisons are better than those in other states, but there is a huge manpower problem in Delhi jails," he added.

NCRB data shows that of 3,250 sanctioned posts for prison staff, only 2,336 are filled. About 29% of posts in Delhi prisons were vacant on December 31, 2020.

Delhi prisons' director general, Sandeep Goel , said mental health is authorities' top priority. "We focus on new inmates and also conduct their psychological profiling. If anyone shows signs of depression, they are counselled. We also have teams of psychiatrists inside the prison. We also have a tie-up with a mental health foundation, an NGO that provides counsellors," he said.

Goel said prisoners are allowed to meet their family members twice a week and can also speak to them over the phone or online. He added that prisoners are closely monitored as well. "There are about 7,000 CCTV cameras to keep a close watch on the inmates. Because of these cameras, our dedicated CCTV monitoring staff has been able to prevent some cases of suicide too," he added.