27.37 Percent Prison Inmates In India Are ‘Illiterate’, Highest Reported In Jails Of Uttar Pradesh: MHA Data

The prison statistics presented recently in the Parliament by Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy showed the maximum number of 1, 98,872 (or 41.55 percent) prisoners are educated below Class 10 level.

Representational Image (AFP)

New Delhi: Around 27.37 percent of the 4,78,600 prison inmates in the country are “illiterate” while 5,677 hold a technical degree or diploma, said a data issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The prison statistics presented recently in the Parliament by Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy showed the maximum number of 1, 98,872 (or 41.55 percent) prisoners are educated below Class 10 level.

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The data also showed that 1,32,729 (27.37 percent) prison inmates were illiterate while 1,03,036 (or 21.52 percent) studied beyond Class 10 but below graduate-level.

Around 30,201 (6.31 percent) prison inmates were graduates while 8,085 (1.68 percent) were postgraduates and as many as 5,677 (1.18 percent) held a technical degree or diploma, etc., as per the data.

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The maximum number of prisoners at 1,01,297 are lodged in the jails of Uttar Pradesh. The country's most populous state also houses the maximum number of prison inmates who are illiterate (31,927), educated up till Class 10 (36,390), beyond Class 10 but below graduation (21,269), graduates (8,151), post graduates (2,635) and techies (925).

The Trinamool Congress (TMC)-ruled West Bengal had not furnished statistics for 2018 and 2019. Hence, the figures released in 2017 were used in the data.

The prison statistics were based on a compilation of data by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) updated till December 31, 2019.

(With Agency Inputs)