Context: 

Indian Jails, with a national average occupancy rate of more than 131%, face extreme overcrowding and are battling multiple health challenges, according to the recently released India Justice Report 2025.

About the Report

• This is the fourth edition of the report titled: “The State of Public Health in India’s Prisons: India Justice Report 2025 — Findings on Gaps in Staffing & Medical Care.”
• It is an initiative of Tata Trusts and supported by several civil society organisations and data partners. The first ever India Justice Report (IJR) was published in 2019.
• It is the first national periodic report of its kind to rank the capacity of states to deliver justice.

Key Findings of Reports 

It tracked the performance of States across four areas — Police, Judiciary, Prisons and Legal Aid.

State Rankings and Performance:

• Top Performers: Karnataka retains top position, Andhra Pradesh rises to 2nd, Telangana maintains 3rd (up from 11th in 2019). Kerala and Tamil Nadu remain in the top 5.
• Southern states dominate all four pillars of justice (Police, Judiciary, Prisons, Legal Aid), owing to better representation, lower vacancies, and smarter resource allocation.
• Tamil Nadu leads prison reforms with 77% occupancy, well below the national average of 131%.

Limited Female Representation in Senior Police Roles:

• India's police force exceeds 20.3 lakh personnel, but only 960 women hold senior IPS ranks like DIGs, IGs, and DGPs—less than 0.5%.
• Only 24,322 women serve as officers (out of 3.1 lakh total officers), making up just 8%.
• 89% of women in the police force are in constabulary roles.
• No state or union territory has met its own reservation targets for women in police.

Decline in Community-Based Legal Support:

• The number of community-based paralegal volunteers (PLVs) dropped by 38% between 2019 and 2024.
• Oly 3 PLVs per lakh population are available nationwide, with only one-third of trained PLVs currently deployed.
• States like Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, and Punjab have seen the steepest drops.
• The shortage of PLVs widens the gap between marginalized communities and access to legal support.

Prison Healthcare Crisis:

• The recommended prisoner-doctor ratio is 1:300, according to the Model Prison Manual (2016), but the national average stands at a concerning 1:775.
• In states like UP, Chhattisgarh, and Haryana, this worsens to 1 doctor per 1,000+ prisoners.
• 44% of correctional staff positions are vacant, and 43% of medical officer posts remain unfilled.
• Only 25 psychologists/psychiatrists serve all of India's prisons.

Judicial System Overburdened; Justice Delayed:

• India has just 15 judges per million people, compared to the Law Commission’s 1987 recommendation of 50 per million.
• High Courts face 33% vacancies, and district courts operate with a 21% shortfall.
• In some courts, judges manage up to 15,000 cases, with district judges handling about 2,200 cases each.
• This chronic overload leads to severe delays in justice.

Undertrial Prison Population Soars:

• 76% of India’s prisoners are undertrials, often detained for years awaiting trial.
• The share of undertrials jailed for over 3-5 years nearly doubled between 2012 and 2022, while those detained over 5 years tripled.
• Prisons are overcrowded, with the national occupancy rate at 131%, and some prisons in Uttar Pradesh exceeding 250% capacity.

Minimal Investment in Legal Aid

• Legal aid receives only Rs 6.46 per person annually, far below necessary levels.
• Police expenditure per capita is Rs 1,275, while judiciary spending per person is just Rs 182.
• Despite a 55% increase in police budgets over the last six years, legal aid spending has barely grown.
• No state spends even 1% of its budget on the judiciary.

Increased Women Judges but Not Enough:

• 38% of district judges in India are women, but this drops to 14% in High Courts and just 6% in the Supreme Court.
• Of the 698 High Court judges appointed since 2018, only 37 are from SC/ST communities, and even fewer are women.
• Only one woman serves as Chief Justice in any of India’s 25 High Courts.

Diversity Decreases with Rank in Police and Judiciary:

• While 59% of police personnel come from SC, ST, or OBC backgrounds, representation drops at higher ranks.
• 61% of constables belong to these groups, but only 16% of Deputy Superintendents of Police (DySPs) do.
• Karnataka is the only state meeting caste quotas across both the police and district judiciary.
• Nationally, STs form 5% of district judges and SCs only 14%, highlighting structural exclusion.