Kozhikode: The social justice (SJ) department is reviving the ‘Nervazhi’ project began in 2014 and found to be successful when piloted in Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Wayanad and Kannur districts. Now, the department has decided to expand it to the entire state, with an outlay of Rs 37,84,583.
The project follows the global understanding that punishment in prison hardly brings about the refinement of the convicts. It dusts off the central rule, Probation of Offenders’ Act of 1958, which stipulates that convicted be released on probation in own home, based on the report submitted by the probation officer.
“The Act excludes lifers, death row prisoners and those convicted of treason, prevention of food adulteration Act, narcotic drugs and psychotropic substance Act and smuggling,” said Abeen A.O., the special officer of the programme.
If implemented, thousands of prisoners languishing in jails could make use of it. The eligible offender will be sent on probation for maximum three years and minimum a year. If the person defies rules on parole, he would be sent back to prison.
“The aim is to refine the offender by allowing him to live with his family and to stamp out the social stigma always attached to an offender's family,” Mr Abeen explained.
"There were umpteen cases of offender's children discontinuing education for that stigma." The project will be implemented in five phases, each running into six months and the total cost is estimated at Rs 2.50 crore.
The low awareness and a weak probation system pulled the Act from being practised in the state. Nervazhi also envisages a complete overhaul of the parole system.
The government can cut short the expenditure on a large scale. As per the findings in 2003, the state was spending Rs 200 for a prisoner a day, and on probation, it is just Rs 20.
