95 prisoners taken to hospitals daily from Gujarat jails, among top states to avail medical treatment

Gujarat features among the top five states in India where the highest number of prisoners are taken out of jails for medical treatment, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2023. Inmates from Gujarat’s prisons were escorted to hospitals 34,720 times in a single year, averaging 95 prisoners per day.

At the national level, prisoners across India were taken for medical care 5.18 lakh times during the same period. Haryana topped the list with 68,939 such instances, followed by West Bengal (56,507), Chhattisgarh (42,142), Kerala (35,425), and Gujarat (34,720) securing the fifth position.

Officials revealed that in many cases, inmates seek hospital visits on health grounds as a way to temporarily leave prison premises and meet family members under official supervision. Government hospitals have separate wards exclusively designated for the treatment of prisoners to ensure security during their stay.

Data also shows that during the same year, 66 prisoners died inside Gujarat’s jails. Of these, 55 deaths were natural, while 11 were classified as unnatural. Among the natural deaths, six were attributed to old age and 49 to various illnesses. The medical causes reported included heart disease (24 cases), lung-related ailments (8), liver disorders (6), tuberculosis (5), cancer (2), schizophrenia (1), brain haemorrhage (1), and alcohol addiction (4).

Further data indicates that Gujarat ranks second in India relating to the number of prisoners sentenced to death, while 3,254 inmates are currently serving life imprisonment across the state’s correctional facilities.