IMPORTANT
V-17013/23/2021-PR
Government of India
Ministry of Home Affairs
*****
Women Safety Division, 2nd Floor
Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium
India Gate Circle, New Delhi-110001
October 4, 2021
To
1. The Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs
2. The Directors General of Police all States and UTs
3. The DGs/IGs Prisons of all States and UTs
Madam/Sir,
Please refer to this Ministry’s Advisory No. 17013/23/2020-PR dated 3rd September 2020 whereby the States and UTs were advised to review the existing practices and procedures governing grant of parole, furlough and premature release to inmates, keeping in view the guidance provided in the Model Prison Manual, 2016 and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, National Human Rights Commission and the Supreme Court, from time to time. It was inter-alia advised that in order to ensure that inmates released on parole, furlough and premature release etc. do not violate law, systems must be put in place for monitoring and follow-up of each such case.
2. Considering the importance of taking timely action in the event of any inmate absconding/ escaping from custody/prison, it is considered necessary to have recent photographs of prisoners updated in the system and also generate immediate alerts which would enable tracking of such inmates by the law enforcement agencies.
3. Systems have been developed on (ePrisons’ and Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) to address the above issues. These IT Modules can be accessed by authorized ePrisons and ICJS users across the country. A brief User Manual is enclosed for reference. For providing easy access to users, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) provides the facility of Virtual Private Network (VPN) to all registered users on ePrisons, CCTNS, eProsecution, eForensics and ICJS. This allows secure web-based access to authorized users irrespective of any internet service provider.
4. You are requested to issue instructions to all concerned on the following points:
a) Prison Departments are required to update the details of any escape from the prison/custody on `ePrisons’ on a real time basis. Quick availability of this information will facilitate police and other authorities concerned in nabbing the escapee/ absconder.
b) States/UTs should leverage ePrisons application for updating the profile of inmates on a regular basis. The photographs of inmates may also be updated on ePrisons regularly to ensure that their latest photograph is available at the time of their release on bail/parole/release.
c) Admission of inmates to Prisons should be made by through the ICJS module available in ePrisons application. This will ensure that FIR/Case data integrity is maintained all through and relevant data of inmates like Court Orders, Custody Certificate etc. can be exchanged with the Courts and Police in a seamless manner under ICJS.
d) Appropriate systems need to be put in place for monitoring and follow up of each case of an inmate released on bail, parole, furlough and premature release etc. so that they do not violate law and indulge in criminal activities.
e) Any person who either attempts to escape from prison or absconds from custody should not be considered for grant of bail, parole or furlough.
f) State Police and Prison authorities should launch special joint drives to apprehend any escapee/absconding inmate in a Mission Mode by forming special teams. Advances in technology may be leveraged to generate alerts of such escapes on a real time basis through ePrisons, ICJS and Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) platforms.
g) All Prison functionaries should register for VPN and make use of the modules provided under e-prisons.
5. For facilitating easy usage of the above facilities, services of NIC may be obtained, who can provide training and hand holding sessions.
Yours Sincerely
(Arun Sobti)
Deputy Secretary (PR & ATC)
Ph: 2307 5297
Email: dspratc@mha.gov.in
Copy to:
i) Joint Director (CCTNS), NCRB
ii) HOD & Sr. Technical Director, ICJS & ePrisons, NIC
Specific modules developed and deployed in ePrisons/ ICJS for specialised tasks
1. Query on Absconder / Escapee prison (ePrisons):
(i) The authorized ePrisons user is required to select the prisoner registration module in the ePrisons Main Menu of PIMS Module. This can be seen in the prisoner registration module after selecting the prisoner JID or PI D No.
(ii) The user is required to update the status of the prisoner as Absconder or Escapee depending upon the event.
(iii) Subsequently, the user is required to update few more details to complete the profile of the Absconder / Escapee. The screen for the same is shown below:
(iv) The Prison User can search any Absconder / Escapee from the General Query module by entering the details along with the status as Absconder / Escapee as shown below:
(v) The User can select the PID / JID No from the search results shown in the form and can see the details of the prisoner of interest where Absconder / Escapee status shown in Red color as shown below:
(vi) The Alert for the number of Absconders / Escapees of a state as entered in the system by a state prison can be seen in the dashboard of the ePrisons after successful login by the prison user.
(vii) The list of these prisoners can be seen after clicking the view link. The screen for the same is shown below:
Prisoner Picture update module (ePrisons):
(i) A prisoner’s photo can be captured on multiple occasions and updated on the ePrisons regularly (quarterly) using this module.
(ii) It is advised to update the prisoner photo on the following events:
a. Admission,
b. On Parole,
c. On Furlough,
d. On Interim Bail
e. Final Release.
(iii) The photos can be retrieved date wise as and when desired by the Prison Department.
(iv) Screen shot of the Prisoner Photo-update option in ePrisons is shown below:
2. Alerts-service on ICJS:
(i) Information on an Absconders /Escapees as entered by the Prisons is synchronized with the Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS).
(ii) Any authorized ICJS users can see these details in the Service / Alert Page of this portal where the Absconders / Escapee details state wise is available.
(iii) A screen-shot of the module is given below.
(iv) The user is required to click the service / alert as shown above.
(v) After clicking this Alert, user is required to enter the state name and
the list of all the Absconders / Escapees as entered by the respective State is listed below. The same is shown in the next screen.
(vi) The user can further see the details of a prisoner by clicking the Prisoner ID and can mark it for his/her watch list for future reference.
For any user-specific enquires or feedback, please send your email to:
1. support-eprisons nic.in
2. support-icjs©gov.in
