A prisoner dies every 5.5 hours in India: Report

New Delhi, Nov 8: A human rights group on Tuesday said one prisoner dies every 5.5 hours in Indian jails and that there are three times more mentally ill and 61 per cent more women prisoners in the country compared with the figures 15 years ago. More than 60 per cent of the inmates lodged in Indian jails are awaiting trial, a number less than only 17 countries in the world, Commonwealth Human Rights Intiative (CHRI) said here. The group released two of its reports — Looking into the Haze: A Study on Prison Monitoring in India and Circle of Justice: A tiol Report on Under Trial Review Committees on Prison Monitoring. The reports also said that the Muslims and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes are always over-represented in the prison population, up to two-thirds of the total, and that 70 per cent of the prisoners are either illiterates or under-matriculates. (IANS)