Madhya Pradesh’s prisons are presently overcrowded by nearly 180%, with 49,763 incarcerated individuals. Nearly two-thirds of these persons are undertrials. Local news reports document information suppression with respect to COVID outbreaks in prisons and the lack of adequate mitigation measures to prevent outbreaks. Alarmingly, MP’s prison population is much larger this year than it was in March 2020, when a decongestion exercise was undertaken following orders from the Supreme Court.

Video: Srujana Bej
Research: CPA Project