Ensure prison stay doesn’t affect mental health of undertrials, Calcutta HC tells Bengal
Times of India | 1 September 2024
KOLKATA: Bengal's prison system should have measures in place to ensure that an undertrial prisoner's jail stay does not, in itself, contribute to mental illness, Calcutta High Court has said.
The bench of justices Joymalya Bagchi and Gaurang Kanth made the observation on Aug 22 while hearing a case on jail reforms and conditions of undertrials in the state's prisons.
On Jan 18, 2021, the HC had instituted a suo motu writ to bring relief to a Nepalese citizen, Dipak Joshi, who was arrested in 1980 and had remained an undertrial prisoner for around 40 years. Joshi was released and sent back to Nepal. Following this, the court took cognizance of the larger picture of prison conditions and decided to further inquire into the situation of prisoners with mental illnesses in the state.
The National Law University Delhi's Project 39A is assisting the state and State Legal Service Authority (SLSA) to formulate a broader policy for the treatment of undertrials and convicts with mental illnesses. They told the HC that 104 undertrials and 75 convicts across the state's prisons were eligible for release, following the guidelines of the undertrial review committee.
The HC was also told that a toxic environment of torture and intimidation prevails at all correctional homes, because of which undertrials and prisoners, otherwidse stable at the time of admission, often experience mental illnesses.
Justice Bagchi said "the first and foremost counselling should be within 24 hours" of a person being detained, as the "most traumatic experience is when you lose liberty". "There, the person may require some hand-holding from an expert. He has a right to consult and should be given the right to consult a psychologist. This may help to defuse and prevent the onset of mental illness," he added.
The HC also asked the state to quickly fill up vacant posts of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists. The state submitted a report in HC, in which the Institute of Psychiatry had said that only qualified psychiatrists, psychiatric social workers and clinical psychologists and mental health nurses — along with Ayush doctors with PG training in mental health — were eligible for treating persons with mental illnesses. That needed to be factored in while drafting the services of trainee psychologists in the care, treatment and counselling of mentally ill prisoners, Justice Bagchi said.
It was proposed that final-year MPhil trainees in psychiatric social work and in clinical psychology may be utilised for counselling and imparting psychotherapy to prisoners.
The state was asked to submit a reviewed SOP, which should list institutions offering postgraduate courses in clinical psychology, as well as identify the capacity of PG students at those institutions who could be utilised for improving the quality of mental health care and assistance given to prisoners.