ADECADE back, the Prisons Department, in a progress report displayed on its website, declared that it had achieved a key performance indicator target — the construction of new prisons. Details aside, the idea that new prisons were being built is a, well, "disturbing" progress.
The implication is distressing: more prisons mean more people having committed an assortment of crimes, followed by arrests, indictments and convictions. This milestone cannot be regarded as a source of pride, rather it is a symptom of a national disease.
Fast forward to the present, the Prisons Department recently unveiled disquieting statistics: 19 out of 43 prisons are overcrowded. The department reported that up to Nov 6, 87,419 convicts overcrowd prisons by 11.24 per cent.
In its frank assessment, the spurt of prison construction stemmed from the incarceration rate of 245 per 100,000 residents, exceeding the global average of 145/100,000.
Obviously, urgent prison reforms are required, leading the way to two emerging initiatives: an improved community rehabilitation programme and alternative sentencing options that include the bold home detention order.
The home detention provision, included in the 2025 Budget, is a radical proposal that the government has contemplated for years.
The prospects are positive: reduced inmate overcrowding, government cost savings and lower recidivism rates, particularly for inmates with chronic diseases and disabilities, the elderly and expectant mothers.
A key inclusion in this category could be non-violent white collar crime offenders. Parolees will, of course, be tightly monitored with ankle bracelets, equipped with RFID trackers.
A major condition for eligibility is that prisoners must have served a remaining sentence of less than four years.
The Home Ministry has to judiciously decide "candidates" without raising public hackles. Of course, before home imprisonment begins, prisons have to address certain concerns: should prisoners, especially those with the means, wealth and influence, be allowed personal luxuries that the layman takes for granted?
While prisoners enter into this humane approach and interact with their families, the original concept of punishment must be upheld: they still have to serve their time as if they are in an actual prison.
The concept of imprisonment still stands: no luxuries, because prisoners under home detention are meant to undergo rehabilitation, not pampering.