78.8% Prisoners Are Undertrials In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: While the conviction rate is low in Odisha, around 78.8 percent of the prisoners in 91 jails of Odisha are undertrials, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2015.

There are 15,965 (males 15,323 and females 642) prisoners in the jails out of which 12,584 are undertrials. While 35.9 per cent of undertrial prisoners remain in jail for 3 months, another 24.7 per cent are incarcerated between 3 to 6 months, said the report.

According to the NCRB data, about 4,19,623 prisoners are languishing in several jails in the country, 2,82,076 are undertrials.

Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of undertrials at 62,699 while Arunachal Pradesh has the least with only 136 undertrial inmates.

In percentage terms, the list is topped by Meghalaya where 91.1 per cent of prisoners are undertrials while Tripura is at the bottom with only 44.1 per cent of undertrials.

A large number of inmates remain in jail as they fail to secure bail.

Around 4,322 undertrial inmates in Odisha have been charged with murder while no convict in the state at present has been awarded capital punishment.

A total 1,767 (1685 males and 82 females) prisoners have been sentenced for life in the state.

Around 3,075 undertrial prisoners are illiterate; another 5830 have studied below 10th standard while only 672 are graduates. Only 937 of the 15,965 prisoners are trained in various professional vocations.

In 2015, 45 inmates died in state jails out of which 43 were recorded as natural causes and two committed suicide.