AP’s Prisons Rank Fourth at National Level on Various Parameters
AP jails outperform in staff availability and inmate welfare, but face challenges in overcrowding.
Vijayawada: India Justice Report of April 2025 has ranked AP prisons fourth in the country, securing 5.69 points on a scale of 10 with regard to various parameters. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala got the first, second and third positions by scoring 7.02, 6.78 and 6.03 points respectively.
According to the report, AP prisons are designed to accommodate nearly 8,000 prisoners. Presently, however, there are only 6,000 prisoners in various jails, of which Rajahmundry and Visakhapatnam are overcrowded.
With regard to benchmarks of cadre staff and medical officers, AP has one medical officer for every 345 inmates against the norm of 300. With regard to the cadre staff, however, AP has done well. As per the norm, there must be one cadre staff for every six inmates. AP has one staff for every 5.5 prisoners.
On daily spending per inmate, AP spends Rs 733 per prisoner per day, while Maharashtra spends only Rs 47. AP spent Rs 2.67 lakh per inmate in 2022-23 against the national average of Rs 44,110. However, AP utilised 84.9 per cent of the budget, against the national average of 89.2 per cent.
AP has fared relatively better than other states in matters like vacancies of officers, cadre staff, correctional staff, medical staff and medical officers. With regard to trained personnel, AP has scored 28.2 per cent against the national average of 20.7 per cent. However, it has 8.4 per cent women prison staff, against the national average of 13.6 per cent.
Further, AP has jails with video-conference facilities to the extent of 72 per cent, against the national average of 82 per cent. With regard to under-trial prisoners detained for 1–3 years, its score is 6.6 per cent against the national average of 22.4 per cent. Prison occupancy in AP is 84 per cent against the national average of 131 per cent.
AP Inspector General (IG) of Prisons, I. Srinivasa Rao, underlined, “AP’s jails are faring well on several parameters when compared with other states. It stands in second position in overall performance after Karnataka and is in fourth place in occupancy of prisoners.” The IG said they are initiating a series of measures to take care of prisoners in jails.
One of them is taking care of prisoners during the summer. They have earthen pots to provide cool water to prisoners. They are keeping ready butter milk and ORS sachets in case a prisoner is found to require the same. In addition, prison windows are being covered with Vetiver grass mats, which are regularly watered to beat the summer heat.
