Ensuring Basic Physical Needs for Prisoners: A Call for Dignified Living Conditions

A prison sentence strips a person of liberty – but does it strip them of everything else? Under Indian law and modern human rights principles, the answer is an emphatic no. Prisoners retain their fundamental rights, including the right to life with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution. Yet the ground reality in Indian prisons tells a starkly different story. From insufficient food and crumbling sanitation to severe healthcare shortfalls, the physical needs of prisoners remain dangerously neglected. Understanding what the law promises – and where it falls short – is central to any serious conversation about criminal justice reform in India.

What the law says: physical needs under the Prisons Act, 1894
Food: adequacy or bare survival?
Clothing and bedding: neglected basics
Sanitation and accommodation: a public health crisis inside prison walls
Healthcare in prisons: a chronic deficit
The role of the NHRC in pushing for reform
The gap between law and reality

What the law says: physical needs under the Prisons Act, 1894

The Prisons Act, 1894 is the primary legislation governing prison administration in India. Although over 130 years old, it remains the operative framework across most states. The Act is divided into twelve chapters, and several provisions directly address the physical needs of prisoners.

Section 31 grants civil prisoners and unconvicted criminal prisoners the right to maintain themselves – they may purchase or receive food, clothing, bedding, and other necessities from private sources at proper hours, subject to prison regulations. Section 33 takes this further by imposing a duty on the Superintendent to supply basic amenities such as clothing and bedding to any prisoner who cannot maintain themselves. Section 37 ensures that every prisoner has access to a medical subordinate without delay in case of illness.

Chapter VI of the Act is specifically dedicated to food, clothing, and bedding, while Chapter VIII addresses prisoner health. On paper, these provisions reflect a minimum floor of care. In practice, the gap between legislative text and actual conditions is wide.

Food: adequacy or bare survival?

The right to adequate food is inseparable from the right to life. State Prison Manuals and the Model Prison Manual of 2016 both set out standards for nutritious meals in prisons. The manuals specify that food should be sufficient in quantity, balanced in nutrition, and served at regular intervals.

The reality contradicts these standards. Reports received by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) have consistently flagged that food quality in many jails is poor, often resulting in malnourishment. The problem is especially acute for vulnerable groups – pregnant women and lactating mothers in prison face heightened nutritional risks due to the absence of any special dietary provisions. The NHRC, in its April 2025 suo motu cognisance of prison conditions, specifically noted inadequate food as a systemic failure across multiple states and union territories.

Overcrowding worsens the problem. When prisons are running well above their sanctioned capacity, even the existing food budget per prisoner gets stretched thin. The state’s obligation is not just to provide food, but to ensure it is nutritionally adequate – a standard most Indian prisons fall short of.

Clothing and bedding: neglected basics

The Prisons Act mandates that prisoners who cannot maintain themselves must be provided clothing and bedding by the prison Superintendent. However, enforcement of this provision has historically been inconsistent. In practice, the quality and sufficiency of clothing and bedding supplied in many prisons do not meet even basic standards of comfort and hygiene.

For women prisoners, the situation is particularly dire. Less than 40% of prisons provide sanitary napkins, and only 18% have exclusive women’s facilities. The Model Prison Manual of 2016 explicitly requires that sterilised sanitary pads be distributed to female prisoners as needed – but implementation of this provision remains largely absent across the country.

Sanitation and accommodation: a public health crisis inside prison walls

The accommodation standards prescribed under the Prisons Act and the Model Prison Manual of 2016 require that prison living spaces meet minimum requirements of space, light, ventilation, and sanitation. Every prison is supposed to have adequate toilet facilities, access to clean drinking water, and proper waste management systems.

None of these standards are consistently met. As of 2022, India’s prisons were operating at 118% of their sanctioned capacity, with 21 states and union territories exceeding the 100% threshold. Overcrowding directly sabotages sanitation. With more inmates than the infrastructure was built for, toilet facilities are strained, water supply is unreliable, and hygiene degrades rapidly.

The NHRC’s own data reveals that states like Uttar Pradesh and Haryana had a nearly 50% shortage of functional toilets in their prisons. At the NHRC’s 2011 national seminar on prison reforms, senior officials openly acknowledged that healthcare, sanitation, and decongestion were the three most urgent areas demanding immediate attention. In its recommendations, the Commission called for regular cleaning schedules, proper sewage systems, and sufficient staffing to maintain hygiene standards – changes that remain partially implemented over a decade later.

The Supreme Court weighed in on the constitutional dimension of these conditions in the landmark case of Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration (1980). The Court held that prisoners retain the protection of Article 21 even behind bars – that the right to life with dignity does not evaporate at the prison gate. It further held that unsanitary, degrading conditions of confinement could amount to cruel and inhumane treatment, violating constitutional guarantees. This judgment established that the state has an affirmative duty to ensure minimum standards of humane living inside prisons.

Healthcare in prisons: a chronic deficit

Medical care in Indian prisons is one of the most critically under-resourced areas of prison administration. The Prisons Act requires that every prison have at least one medical officer and that sick prisoners receive prompt attention. The reality is very different.

As the NHRC noted in its 2011 seminar, many prisons across India have no resident medical officer. A doctor from the nearest district hospital may visit occasionally and briefly – leaving the bulk of the prisoner population without timely medical attention. This is a critical failure, because prisons – by their nature – concentrate vulnerable populations. Overcrowded, poorly ventilated, and unsanitary conditions make prisons hotspots for communicable diseases. Without adequate medical infrastructure, illnesses that could be treated quickly can become serious or fatal.

Mental healthcare is virtually absent. Overcrowded prisons suffer from a lack of mental healthcare facilities, turning them into sites for psychological deterioration alongside physical illness. The NHRC has recommended mandatory psychiatric visits and separate housing for mentally ill prisoners – a recommendation that most state prisons have not acted upon.

The staffing shortfall compounds everything. The sanctioned strength of prison staff across India in 2020 stood at 87,961, but the actual deployed strength was only 61,296. With such a deficit, maintaining basic health and safety standards becomes nearly impossible.

The role of the NHRC in pushing for reform

The National Human Rights Commission has been the most consistent institutional voice demanding better living conditions for prisoners. It has repeatedly flagged that overcrowding – driven largely by undertrial congestion – is the root cause of most physical deprivations in prison. As of 2022, undertrials constituted nearly 75.8% of India’s prison population, meaning that the majority of people suffering these conditions have not been convicted of any crime.

The Commission has taken suo motu cognisance of prison conditions on multiple occasions, directing state governments to submit reports on healthcare access, food quality, sanitation, and women’s welfare. In April 2025, the NHRC issued notices to Chief Secretaries of all states and union territories, demanding comprehensive data on overcrowding, medical facilities, women prisoners, and welfare programme implementation. The Commission specifically noted that many jails were leaving prisoners – especially women and children – without clean drinking water, proper sanitation, or adequate food.

The NHRC’s work on prison manuals has also been significant. Its recommendations helped shape the Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023, a comprehensive framework drafted by the Ministry of Home Affairs to replace the colonial-era Prisons Act of 1894. The new Model Act emphasises reformative philosophy over punitive custody, and includes specific provisions for the physical and mental well-being of prisoners, separate accommodation for women and transgender inmates, and use of technology for transparent prison administration. States may adopt it with modifications suited to their context.

The gap between law and reality

What makes this issue particularly troubling is that the legal framework is not entirely absent. The Prisons Act of 1894, the State Prison Manuals, the Model Prison Manual of 2016, and Supreme Court judgments have all established clear standards for the physical treatment of prisoners. The problem is implementation.

Three structural constraints define this failure: overcrowding driven by slow trials and excessive undertrial detention; underfunding of prison infrastructure and staff; and political neglect of an issue that rarely attracts public attention. Prison reform does not win elections, and prisoners – especially undertrial prisoners from marginalized communities – have little political voice.

Modern penal philosophy, reflected in international standards like the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, treats prisons as correctional institutions – not warehouses for human suffering. India has formally endorsed this philosophy. The task now is to align practice with principle: ensuring that every prisoner, regardless of their crime or trial status, receives food, clothing, shelter, sanitation, and healthcare that meet the minimum standards a civilised society owes to every person in its custody.

What do you think? If the law already mandates basic physical needs for prisoners, why does implementation remain so inconsistent across Indian states – and what systemic changes would actually close that gap? Should undertrial prisoners, who have not yet been convicted of any offence, be entitled to a higher standard of care than convicted prisoners given their legal status?

References

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Table of Contents

What the law says: physical needs under the Prisons Act, 1894 🔗

Food: adequacy or bare survival? 🔗

Clothing and bedding: neglected basics 🔗

Sanitation and accommodation: a public health crisis inside prison walls 🔗

Healthcare in prisons: a chronic deficit 🔗

The role of the NHRC in pushing for reform 🔗

The gap between law and reality 🔗