Aged life convicts await orders to become free

HYDERABAD: Pale and frail, a life convict in his Seventies is carried away on a stretcher by two prisoners from Cherlapally Central Prison to a government hospital.
He''s not the only such in the prison. In their twilight years, many like him behind the bars are awaiting formal remission of sentence orders, which would allow them to spend their last days with their dear ones.
"See that man.You think he can still commit a crime? He''s so weak and can hardly move. . but he''s doomed to serve out his sentence here. Many have breathed their last in this jail, having yearned to spend their last days with their near ones," an elderly prisoner from Mehboobnagar B Kondaiah says.
A wistful look in his eyes, he says: "I suffer from arthritis. The body pains are unbearable. I''ve served 14 years behind bars and wonder if the government will grant me a remission." Convicted on a murder charge and serving a life term, he says he''s waiting for that day when his release order would come. Hopefully they would and he''ll be a free bird again.
Similar is the condition of 20 others, including the likes of Chokka and Madhav. Some among them suffer from amnesia, large parts of their lives having been wiped out from their memories. They find it hard to even walk around. The jail complex is spread over 117 acre. Had they been up and about, they''d probably have mingled with the other inmates.
But today, they are a reticent lot, yearning to see their families.From 8 am to 11 am, the prisoners spend time at the workshop. Some are carpenters, other are handicrafts experts. From 11 am, it''s lunch time. At 6 pm, the prisoners are back in their cells.
Trouble is, the rule book spells out how exactly life convicts are to be treated. Section 433A of the CrPC says the sentence of life imprisonment doesn''t expire at the end of 20 years. A lifer has to serve term till he breathes his last, unless a government choses to exercise its discretion granting remission of sentence to the convict.
"Unless convicted for serious murder charges, including dowry deaths, communal violence or other such grave acts of crime, lifers are normally granted remission after 10 to 14 years of imprisonment," DIG, prisons, MR Ahmed says. But, if a prison has 20 such lifers, the government has to release orders for each of them. "You don''t get release orders for a batch of convicts. That takes time."
Besides, the remission clause, he adds, doesn''t work for prisoners held under the "prohibitive" sections such as those convicted for communal violence and manslaughter.