Open-air prisons are a humane solution to overcrowded jails – so why doesn’t India use them more?

A legal battle in the Supreme Court has shone the spotlight on India’s open-air prisons. The court is deliberating over preserving land in Rajasthan’s Sanganer open-air prison, with the state government looking to reduce its size. In another case earlier this year, the court suggested the use of open-air prisons as a solution to over-crowding in regular prisons.

Open-air prisons have also seen judicial attention in other states. The Orissa High Court earlier this month recommended this model to its state government. The Allahabad High Court made a similar suggestion earlier this year. These developments highlight the growing focus on open-air prisons as an alternative to traditional incarceration.

Open-air prisons are designed to prioritise rehabilitation over confinement. Unlike traditional prisons, they have minimal security and allow inmates greater freedom of movement. Inmates live in open conditions and are encouraged to engage in productive activities such as running small businesses, farming, vocational training or other employment.

These prisons typically house non-violent offenders who demonstrate good behaviour and are nearing the completion of their sentences. In some cases, inmates can even reside with their families or visit them frequently, maintaining vital social ties.

In spite of these benefits, as of 2022, of the 5,73,220 prisoners in India, only 4,473 were in open-air prisons, according to government data. That represents about 0.7% of the total prison population. Open-air prisons are, on average, filled up to only 74% of their capacity, even as regular prisons across the country are overcrowded far beyond their capacity.

Open-air prisons are a solution to India’s overcrowded penal system, according to criminal justice experts that Scroll spoke with. They are also humane, helping put in place rehabilitation-focused models in place of traditional punitive measures. State governments must set up more such prisons and increase the funding allocated to prisons to make India’s incarceration system rehabilitative, rather than retributive, they said.

Why open-air prisons?

Open-air prisons offer significant benefits that traditional prisons often fail to provide, experts told Scroll. They focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment, allowing inmates to live in conditions closer to normal life. “Open-air prisons can address the issues of dehumanisation, denial of basic rights and lack of privacy in traditional prisons,” Mahuya Bandopadhyay, professor of sociology at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, said,

Human rights worker Kavita Srivastava, who is the General Secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Rajasthan and has worked closely with prisoners in the state, said that such prisons “allow one to live with their family, work and live their life with relative freedom.” She said, “Jails are supposed to be correctional centres, not detention centres.”

Ayushi Sharma, Senior Resident Fellow at Vidhi, said that the benefits of open-air prisons are well known. “Open-air prisons have always been suggested as an alternative by courts,” she said. “Even the Law Commission of India pointed this out in 1997.”

According to Sharma, there is a lack of initiative on the part of state governments because “we have a unidimensional approach to punishment. We believe only deterrence works.” According to her, “The idea that an offender can be reformed and come out as a better person is not something we believe in.”

Open-air prisons are also financially cheaper to operate. A 2017 study by the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority highlighted the cost-effectiveness of open prisons. Conducted by prison researcher Smita Chakraburtty, it covered 428 prisoners across 15 open prisons in Rajasthan. The study found that open prisons required fewer resources than traditional ones and offered significant social and economic benefits. For instance, the Sanganer open prison cost just Rs 500 per prisoner per month, compared to Rs 7,094 at Jaipur Central Prison. Staffing needs were also minimal, with one staff member managing 80 prisoners in open prisons.

The research pointed out that open prisons could help reduce overcrowding in traditional jails, where undertrials make up 70% of inmates.

Challenges and opportunities

A common fear with open-air prisons is that convicts might escape if placed in open prisons. However, the study found no incidents of inmates escaping, despite the absence of security barricades.

In Maharashtra, between 2017 and 2022, only 28 prisoners escaped from open-air prisons. At the end of 2022, Maharashtra’s open-air prisons housed 1,1612 inmates.

Sharma said that such prisons run primarily on trust. “We cannot let the possibility of one person running away prevent us from opting for a much better, much more economical alternative,” she said. “With strict selection criteria and scrutiny, ensuring that only non-violent offenders go to open prisons can mitigate this risk.” she said.

Srivastava pointed out that other criminal law protections offered to prisoners such as bail, remission and parole are also based on the principle of trust.

The community structure of an open-air prison is also a major factor in building trust. “Open-air prison inmates are incentivised to maintain good behaviour and weed out bad behaviour in the entire prison community since they are living there with their families,” Chakraburtty, the author of the Rajasthan study and the founder of PAAR or Prison Aid and Action Research, a research and advocacy organisation for prison rights, told Scroll.

Apart from trust, administering such prisons effectively also requires investment. “Our prisons are currently underfunded," said Medha Deo, Programme Director at Project 39A, a criminal justice programme at National Law University, Delhi. "We are only spending enough to control the prisoned population. Reform will require much more spending and much more imagination.”

The administration of open-air prisons also requires a shift from punitive to rehabilitative approaches. Effective management involves regular monitoring, providing vocational training and ensuring inmates have access to healthcare and counselling. “Open-air jails are based on principles of reformation, correction and rehabilitation,” Sharma said. “They allow inmates to live with family and work, continuing to function as contributing members of society while staying connected to the outside world.”

Murali Karnam, professor of Human Rights and director of the Access to Justice program at the Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad, agreed. “If open-air prisons are truly open, like in Rajasthan, allowing prisoners to find employment and support their families, then they genuinely aim at reintegration and redemption,” he said. “Escapes from open prisons are rare because inmates understand that it closes their prospects of release permanently.”

Current scenario in India

Open-air prisons have existed in India since the early 1950s. According to latest government data from 2022, India has 91 open-air prisons, housing over 4,473 prisoners. These prisons have the capacity to house 6,043 prisoners.

Rajasthan, the pioneer in this model, has 41 such facilities, with Maharashtra the next best performer with 19. More than half of all prisoners living in open-air prisons in India are based in only these two states. Eleven states, including Uttar Pradesh, which is the most populous state, don’t have any open-air prisons, as doesn’t a single union territory, including Delhi.

Why are there not more open-air prisons in India? “State governments don’t set them up because they don’t understand open prisons and aren’t willing to spend on them,” Chakraburtty said.

Deo explained that the criminal justice system is not designed to prioritise the rehabilitation of prisoners. “If governments are not confident of how reformed someone is getting in prisons, they won’t be confident about releasing them in open-air prisons,” she said. “Governments are not confident that they have reformed someone and the prisoners won’t then escape.”

The rules governing these prisons vary across states, but they typically admit convicts with good behaviour who have completed a significant portion of their sentence. Chakraburtty pointed out that open-air prisons would be more successful if eligibility for prisoners is relaxed to during a relatively early stage of their prison term, such as half-way point of sentence. “Then, they will look at it as a second chance and can build their lives again,” she said.

This will also encourage better behaviour among prisoners in regular prisons. “The prospect of moving to an open-air prison in a few years provides hope to prisoners,” she said. “They are likely to behave well in order to be able to apply for movement to an open-air prison.”