Budget for prisons in Maharashtra cut by 10%

Even though Maharashtra ranks among the highest when it comes to prison funding allocation, its share of expenses on inmates remains low. This means that of its entire budget, only over 18.8 per cent or Rs 117.44 crore is spent on inmates, while the national average is that of 24.9 per cent.

Delhi’s share is 53.6 per cent. The report did not specify what the rest of the budget was spent on. However, sources said that majority of it was spent on administrative expenses, including salaries.
Maharashtra has 60 prisons, including district jails, central jails, sub-jails and women’s jail. As of December 31, 2024, there are 39,003 inmates in the state. With the population exceeding the overall capacity at 27,110, the resources, including space in barracks, staff and facilities, remain overstretched.

Further break-up of the expenses shows that food remains the highest expenditure for inmates. Of the Rs 117.44 crore spent on inmates, the Maharashtra prison department data claims that Rs 106.85 crore or nearly 90 per cent is spent on food. The remaining expenses are — Rs 5.69 crore for medical needs, Rs 1.04 crore for clothing and Rs 6 lakh for welfare activities.

Wages

Maharashtra also remains one of the states paying low wages to convicts, working in jails in the agriculture fields and other industries, functioning out of prisons. Out of the 60 jails, in 31 jails, the vegetables and foodgrains required for the daily diet of prisoners are cultivated. It pays 74 per day to a skilled worker, 67 to semiskilled and 53 to an unskilled worker. The highest, as per the report, is paid in Karnataka, with a highly skilled worker paid Rs 663, Rs 615, Rs 548 and Rs 524 paid to a skilled, semiskilled and unskilled worker per day respectively.

The value of earnings from sale proceeds of products manufactured in the jail are at Rs 22.78 crore in the state, which is the fourth highest in the country. A report by Justice Radhakrishnan Commitee on Prison Reforms in 2016, appointed by the high court, had suggested a review of prisoner wages and discussed the lack of equality in the wages paid to prisoners across states, recommending that they be reviewed every three years and adjusted with inflation.

Vacancies

As per the report, of the total sanctioned staff strength of 7,068, there are 2,700 vacancies. The impact of this is most disproportionately seen on the medical requirements in jail. The ratio of the numeber of inmates per medical staffer is 520; correctional staff is 386 and jail officials is 10. Of the medical staff, there are only three psychiatrists/psychologists against a sanctioned strength of 21, and 40 medical officers, whereas there are 79 sanctioned posts.