The Prison Statistics India (PSI) report for 2021 was released recently. As per data provided in the report, the occupancy in Indian prisons crossed 130% by the end of 2021. Of the 5.54 lakh inmates lodged in prisons across India by end of 2021, 4.27 lakh were undertrials. Their share has increased to 77% by the end of 2021 from 66% by the end of 2012. The annual Prison Statistics India (PSI) report published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) provides comprehensive statistical information on various aspects of prison administration in India such as type of jails & occupancy, types of prisoners & demography, Indian & foreign prisoners, releases, transfers, movements, rehabilitation, and welfare of prisoners, etc. The report contains information on prisons, prisoners, and prison infrastructure in India and was first published in 1995. The report is based on the information produced by state prison departments. Recently, the NCRB released the report for 2021. Prison occupancy crossed 130% in 2021, despite pandemic As per the 2021 PSI report, there were 5.54 lakh inmates lodged in prisons across the country while the actual capacity of the prisons was only 4.26 lakh persons, as on 31 December 2021. The prison occupancy ratio touched 130.2%, the highest in the last 12 years. In other words, about 130 people were accommodated in a space meant to accommodate only 100 persons, highlighting the overcrowding in Indian prisons. This is despite the efforts to release the inmates languishing in prisons to ease the overcrowding in lieu of the COVID-19 pandemic as per court directions in 2020 and 2021. The majority of the inmates in prisons are undertrials. An undertrial is a person who is currently on trial in a court of law. It should be noted that, unlike a convict who is found guilty by the court and sentenced to imprisonment by a court of law, an undertrial is an accused person kept in custody while the trial takes place in the court. Of the 5.54 lakh inmates lodged in the country’s prisons by the end of 2021, more than 4.27 lakh inmates were undertrials. Their share has only been increasing over the years. In the last decade, the share of undertrials increased from 66.2% by the end of 2012, to 77.1% by the end of 2021. In numerical terms, the number of undertrials in prisons was 2.55 lakhs by the end of 2012 (out of 3.73 lakh prison inmates) which has also continuously increased to 4.27 lakh by the end of 2021. That is, the number of undertrials has increased almost 1.7 times in the last decade. 1 in 3 undertrials in prison were confined for up to 3 months The majority of the undertrials in prisons were those in confinement for up to 3 months. As the period of confinement increases, the share of undertrial prisoners and their numbers decreased. Those who were confined for up to 3 months constituted more than one-third (34%) of the total undertrials in prisons in 2021, which is 1.46 lakh out of 4.27 lakh undertrial prisoners. Compared to 2012 (37.8%), the share of undertrials confined for up to 3 months has decreased. Those who were confined for 3 to 6 months, and 6 to 12 months constituted 20.3% and 16.5% respectively, in 2021, down from 22.1% and 17.6% respectively in 2012. While there has been an overall reduction in the share of those undertrials who have been confined for up to a year, the share of those undertrials who have been confined for more than a year has increased over the years. The share of undertrials under confinement for more than a year has crossed 7.5% by the end of 2020 compared to less than 6% by the end of 2012. Likewise, the share of undertrials under confinement for 3 to 5 years has gone up from 3.4% by the end of 2012 to 5.6% by the end of 2021 and those under confinement for more than five years has gone increased from less than 1% to nearly 2.7% during the same period. In terms of absolute numbers, the number of undertrials in confinement for 2 to 3 years has more than doubled since 2012, while that under confinement for 3 to 5 years has increased by more than 2.5 times. The number of undertrials in prisons for more than five years has also gone up by close to 6 times. A disproportionately higher share of Muslims and Sikhs among undertrial prison inmates compared to their population share The religion and caste-wise break up of undertrial prisoners is also provided in the PSI report. However, it should be noted that the data for 2016 was not published by the NCRB. Also, Maharashtra stopped providing demographic break up of undertrial prisoners since 2017 because of which the religion and caste-based distribution has been calculated excluding Maharashtra. Hindus constituted more than 73% of the undertrials by the end of 2021, compared to less than 70% till 2015.