In 2017, most Prisoners escaped from Gujarat while most Jail breaks took place in West Bengal
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 22, 2019
The
Prison Statistics report of the NCRB provides data on various facets of the
prison system in India. As per the 2017 report, 378 prisoners escaped from
custody. 95 of them escaped in Gujarat while 48 in Uttar Pradesh. On the other
hand, 10 of the 15 jail breaks reported in 2017 took place in West Bengal.
Most of us watch jailbreakscenes in movies in awe where the hero or villain tricks the guards andescapes. Have you imagined that jail breaks do happen in real life? Everthought how it is that the inmates escape in spite of the tight security andround the clock surveillance?
Annually, a fewhundred offenders manage to escape Indian jails. However, some of them arecaught and arrested again. In the Prison
Statistics of India, the annual reportreleased by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), data on jail breaks andescapes is provided every year since 2004. This story takes a closer look atthe numbers presented in the Prison Statistics report of 2017.
What is the difference between Police custody and Judicial
custody?
Section 167 of the Code
of Criminal Procedure lists the provisions forholding a person in custody. Both police
and judicial custody have the objective ofkeeping the suspect/accused under the supervision of police in order to preventthem from committing further crimes or escaping or tampering with evidence whilethe investigation is under progress. However, in police custody, a policeofficer detains an offender or a suspect on his/her own call. A judicialcustody is said to have taken place if the detention is as per the orders ofthe magistrate and the accused is usually lodged in jail.
378 prisoners escaped from lawful custody in 2017
Number ofprisoners who escaped while under judicial custody and police custody have been recorded separatelyin the report. In 2017 alone, a total of 378 prisoners have escaped. Of this,163 have escaped from police custody and remaining from judicial custody.
Uttar Pradesh accountedfor 24% (39) of the prisoners who escaped from police custody. Punjab reported10% (17) of escapees from police custody while Andhra Pradesh reported 9% (15)of the total. Apart from these states, in terms of numbers, Kerala, Tamil Naduand Maharashtra have reported more than 10 escapees from police custody alonein 2017.
Gujarat alone accounted for 62% of the escapees who
escaped from outside the prison premises
In the year 2017, 215prisoners escaped from judicial custody. 70 of them escaped from inside theprison premises while the remaining 145 escaped from outside the prison. Atotal of 9 each from Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan had escaped from inside theprison premises.
Gujarat aloneaccounted for 90 escapees out of the total 145 reported to have escaped fromoutside the prison premises in 2017. This amounts to 62% of total escapees fromoutside the prison. 11 escapees were reported from West Bengal under thiscategory.
Maximum number of escapees were reported from Gujarat
followed by Uttar Pradesh
In terms ofstate-wise numbers, 95 prisoners in Gujarat were reported to have escaped, thehighest for any state.  Uttar Pradesh(48) with half the number of escapees compared to Gujarat came in second inthis aspect. These two states alone accounted for 38% of the total escapeesreported in India in 2017.
44% of the escapees were re-arrested in India in 2017
Only 168 of theescapees out of the total 378 have been re-arrested in 2017. The maximum numberof re-arrest of escapees has been reported in Gujarat. If we look at the rateof re-arrest in India, only 44% of the escapees have been arrested again.  Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have re-arrested 92%each. (By rate, we refer to the percentage of escapees arrested in a state
divided by the total number of escapees in the state)
Number of inmates escaping prisons in declining
If we look at thetrend in the number of escapees since 2004, it is evident that the number isfalling gradually. However, the number was exceptionally high in 2007 and then 2016.The number of re-arrests has not seen any significant difference. The highestrate of re-arrest recorded so far is in 2017.
Inmate-Staff ratio is very high in Uttar Pradesh
The number ofinmates each correctional staff attend is high in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.While in Uttar Pradesh each correctional staff has to attend to 48,191 inmates,in Gujarat each staff has attend to 13,011 inmates. In the remaining states,the numbers are much smaller.
Uttar Pradesh alsohas a high inmate- staff ratio. There are 14 inmates per prison staff in UttarPradesh which is twice the national average of seven (7) inmates per prisonstaff.  The maximum number of inmates inIndia are in the prisons of Uttar Pradesh.
Two thirds of the total jail breaks in 2017 were
reported in West Bengal
Resorting toforcible means to escape prisons which result in injury, are the category ofcrimes recorded under the head of jail
breaks. A total of 15 jail breaks wererecorded in 2017, 10 of which were reported in West Bengal. One incident ofjail break was reported from each of the states- Gujarat, Haryana, HimachalPradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
One death due to clashes was reported in Goa
Out of the total88 incidents
of clashes reported in jails in2017, 35 were from Bihar and 19 from Delhi. 11 such incidents were reportedfrom Punjab as well. These clashes have even resulted in a death of an inmatein Goa, the only death reported across the country in such clashes. Apart fromthis, 181 inmates and 23 jail personnel have been injured in these clashes. 81cases of injury were reported in Delhi followed by Bihar with 37 cases. Goareported 23 cases. These three states together have reported 69% of the total injurycases.